UPDATE AT 2:15 PM: Hurricane Hunter planes say Maria now has top sustained winds of 165 miles per hour.
CHANGES WITH THIS ADVISORY:
The Meteorological Service of the Dominican Republic has issued a Hurricane Warning from Cabo Engano to Puerto Plata, a Tropical Storm Warning west of Puerto Plata to the northern border of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and a Tropical Storm Warning west of Cabo Engano to Punta Palenque.
The Government of France has changed the Hurricane Warning for Guadeloupe to a Tropical Storm Warning, and has discontinued the Tropical Storm Warning for Martinique.
At 200 PM AST (1800 UTC), the eye of Hurricane Maria was located near latitude 16.6 North, longitude 63.6 West. Maria is moving toward the west-northwest near 10 mph (17 km/h), and this general motion is expected to continue through Wednesday night. On the forecast track, the eye of Maria will move over the northeastern Caribbean Sea today, and then pass near or over the Virgin Islands overnight and Puerto Rico on Wednesday.
Maximum sustained winds are near 160 mph (260 km/h) with higher gusts. Maria is a potentially catastrophic category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some fluctuations in intensity are likely during the next day or two, but Maria is forecast to remain an extremely dangerous category 4 or 5 hurricane until it moves near or over the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 35 miles (55 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles (220 km). During the past few hours, the eye passed just north of NOAA buoy 42060, which reported 1-min average winds of 85 mph (137 km/h) and a wind gust of 94 mph (151 km/h).
SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT:
A Hurricane Warning is in effect for... * Dominica * St. Kitts, Nevis, and Montserrat * U.S. Virgin Islands * British Virgin Islands * Puerto Rico, Culebra, and Vieques * Cabo Engano to Puerto Plata
A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for... * Antigua and Barbuda * Saba and St. Eustatius * St. Maarten * Anguilla * Guadeloupe * West of Puerto Plata to the northern border of the Dominican Republic and Haiti * West of Cabo Engano to Punta Palenque
A Hurricane Watch is in effect for... * Saba and St. Eustatius * St. Maarten * St. Martin and St. Barthelemy * Anguilla * Isla Saona to Cabo Engano