What’s in the path of Hurricane Maria

Hurricane Maria made landfall as a Category 4 storm Wednesday morning in Puerto Rico, bringing winds at about 160 mph to an island that dodged the worst of Hurricane Irma’s destructive power just a few weeks ago.

[Capital Weather Gang: Tracking Maria]

The storm made landfall in Puerto Rico at about 6:15 a.m. near Yabucoa, a city of less than 40,000 along the island’s southeastern coast.

Maria is the fourth major hurricane in the 2017 season and the first Category 4 storm to make landfall on the island in more than 80 years.

Within 24 hours, Maria dumped more than two feet of rain in areas across the island, triggering massive flooding.

Heavy winds snapped palm trees, ripped roofs off houses and knocked out power for the entire island. They also toppled cellphone towers, leaving many residents without the ability to call for help or contact family members.

As of Thursday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 10-day forecast, which indicates the storm's possible predicted paths, mostly show Maria staying away from the U.S. East Coast.

However, several models project the storm could make its way along the coasts in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Hurricane Jose will play a key role in determining Maria’s final path. If Jose weakens too quickly, Maria could drift closer to the East Coast by next week.

High ocean temperatures in the Caribbean Sea provide the ideal condition for fueling tropical cyclones.

A sea surface temperature of at least 79.7 degrees Fahrenheit is necessary for tropical cyclones to develop, and the region is well above that threshold.

Maria is now among the most intense hurricanes to make landfall within the United States and its territories, according to the National Hurricane Center.

When the storm hit Puerto Rico, its central air pressure was reported to be 917 millibars (mbar), putting it within the same strength field as Hurricane Andrew in 1992 (922 mbar) and Hurricane Dean (905 mbar) in 2007.

[Hurricane Maria churns through Caribbean as ravaged Puerto Rico takes stock of an 'island destroyed']

A hurricane’s strength is dependent on the air pressure at its center. The lower the pressure, the more energy the storm can generate, which means stronger winds.

The most intense hurricane to make landfall in the United States was the Labor Day storm in 1935 (892 mbar). Hurricane Wilma (882 mbar) in 2005 holds the record as the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin.

Islands in the eastern Caribbean are still recovering from Hurricane Irma, which roared into the region as a Category 5 storm.

Some of those islands, including St. Croix, were hit again by Maria. The island took the brunt of Maria’s force, while the storm was a Category 5 and brought destructive 175 mph winds.

Puerto Rico missed Irma’s full force, but the storm still caused widespread power outages.

Maria started as a tropical depression off the west coast of Africa.

As the system approached the Windward Islands, the storm quickly intensified from a Category 1 to a Category 5 in less than a day before it made landfall on the island of Dominica.