Satellites watch Hurricane Fiona wallop Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic

Satellites are watching as Hurricane Fiona, currently a Category 1 storm, pummels Caribbean islands.

Hurricane Fiona made landfall over Puerto Rico on Sunday (Sept. 18), bringing high winds and heavy rain and taking down the island's power grid, according to the Washington Post. Puerto Rico is home to 3.2 million people; the storm comes five years after the island was battered by Hurricane Maria.

Even as rain continues to fall over Puerto Rico, the storm has hit the Dominican Republic, according to CNN, making landfall early Monday morning (Sept. 19). The eastern side of the Dominican Republic is expected to take a stronger hit from the storm, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Hurricane Center.

Related: New and improved satellites will help track storms this hurricane season

A view of Hurricane Fiona early on Sept. 19, 2022, captured by NOAA's GOES-East satellite. (Image credit: CIRA/NOAA)

Next, the storm is expected to strengthen somewhat as it passes over warm ocean water before continuing on to hit the Turks and Caicos on Tuesday (Sept. 20). From there, the storm is predicted to veer to the north-northeast, passing over the ocean until reaching Bermuda early Friday morning (Sept. 23).

Hurricane Fiona is only the sixth tropical storm in the Atlantic to be named during this year's hurricane season, which began June 1 and will continue through Nov. 30.

In predictions released in May, NOAA officials said they put 70% odds on this year's season including a total of 14 to 21 named storms, six to 10 of which they expected would be hurricanes.

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Meghan Bartels
Senior Writer

Meghan is a senior writer at Space.com and has more than five years' experience as a science journalist based in New York City. She joined Space.com in July 2018, with previous writing published in outlets including Newsweek and Audubon. Meghan earned an MA in science journalism from New York University and a BA in classics from Georgetown University, and in her free time she enjoys reading and visiting museums. Follow her on Twitter at @meghanbartels.