|Hurricane Irma, east of Puerto Rico, Sept 5, 2017|
|The 1938 hurricane downed trees and telephone poles on Maple Street,|
Maynard, MA. (courtesy Maynard Historical Society)
One oddity - a storm tracking north along a west coast, much as Irma tracked north along the west side of Florida, will initially push water away from the shore, as wind direction on the north side of the storm is east to west. After the eye passes, the winds on the south side of the storm blow west to east, pushing all the water back.
All Irma delivered to eastern Massachusetts was scattered showers. Jose blessed Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and the outer Cape with gale force winds and inches of rain, but much less west of Boston. Maria is too far away to guess what it will bring to New England.