Jose helps steer Maria off coast

A briefly weakened Hurricane Maria regained strength Thursday as it swept into warm waters off the Dominican Republic ahead of an expected turn north well off the U.S. coast in the Atlantic.

Maria raked the northern tier of the Dominican Republic and bore down on the Turks and Caicos Islands and southeastern Bahamas, all of which were under a hurricane warning.

Although it is moving away from Puerto Rico, the storm is so large it was expected to continue dumping rain on the island, with an additional 4 to 8 inches likely through Saturday. In some parts of the island, the total rainfall from the storm is expected to be up to 40 inches.

A direct hit on the U.S. mainland from Hurricane Maria is unlikely but not impossible, forecasters said. A complex dance among Maria, the remnants of Hurricane Jose, and several other weather systems over the eastern U.S. and western Atlantic Ocean will determine the storm’s ultimate path.

Jose should lend a helping hand to keep Maria away from the U.S. mainland by temporarily blocking a large area of high pressure over the eastern U.S. from moving farther east, the Weather Channel reported.

“If that high had been able to build east faster, it would have sent Maria on a more west-northwest path toward the U.S.,” Weather Channel meteorologist Chris Dolce said.