As of 2pm today, Hurricane Jose, located 660 Miles east of the Lesser Antilles, and following in Irma's footsteps, is now a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds od 105 mph (165kmh).
Here is the summary from the NHC:
Hurricane Jose Intermediate Advisory Number 9A
...JOSE NOW A CATEGORY 2 HURRICANE...
After laying waste to the Northern Caribbean and leaving most of bankrupt Puerto Rico without power - perhaps for months - Hurricane Irma, still a category five storm, is expected to make landfall near Miami this weekend. Florida Gov. Rick Scott has already declared a state of emergency, and last night more than 100,000 Miami-Dade residents in Miami Beach and low-lying mainland areas were instructed to leave their homes by Miami Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who issued his first evacuation order.
After laying waste to much of the Leeward Islands and leaving most of Puerto Rico without power, Hurricane Irma is continuing its destructive march through the Caribbean which is expected to culminate with landfall in Miami sometime this weekend.
As we noted yesterday, Irma's catastrophic 185+ mph winds left 90% of the dwellings on the island of Barbuda completely leveled, according to Prime Minister Gaston Browne.
Authored by Michael Snyder via The American Dream blog,
Initial jobless claims spiked 62k last week - thanks to a 51k surge in Texas - as the impact of Hurricane Harvey ripples (transitorily) through economic data.
This 26% spike in claims is the largest since 2005 (and biggest absolute rise since 2012).
The 298k print is the highest since April 2015.