CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY:
The Government of Barbados has discontinued the Tropical Storm Watch for Barbados.
At 200 PM AST (1800 UTC), the eye of Hurricane Maria was located by the French radar on Martinique near latitude 14.9 North, longitude 60.4 West. Maria is moving toward the west-northwest near 10 mph (17 km/h), and this motion with some decrease in forward speed is expected through Tuesday night. On the forecast track, the center of Maria will move across the Leeward Islands late today and tonight, over the extreme northeastern Caribbean Sea Tuesday and Tuesday night, and approach Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands on Wednesday.
Reports from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that maximum sustained winds have increased to near 125 mph (200 km/h) with higher gusts. Maria is a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Additional rapid strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours, and Maria is expected to be a dangerous major hurricane as it moves through the Leeward Islands and the northeastern Caribbean Sea.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 15 miles (30 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 125 miles (205 km).
SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT:
A Hurricane Warning is in effect for... * Guadeloupe * Dominica * St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat * Martinique * St. Lucia * U.S. Virgin Islands * British Virgin Islands
A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for... * Antigua and Barbuda * Saba and St. Eustatius * St. Maarten * Anguilla
A Hurricane Watch is in effect for... * Puerto Rico, Vieques, and Culebra * Saba and St. Eustatius * St. Maarten * St. Martin and St. Barthelemy * Anguilla
A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for... * St. Vincent and the Grenadines