By Jamie Kagol From NBC 25 News

The Greater Antilles; the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, is referred to as the ‘Hurricane Graveyard’ as their mountainous terrain wreak havoc on the wind field of storms passing through the region.

In the satellite loop of Hurricane Maria from Wednesday, September 20, 2017 you can see how the eye of the hurricane passes over the eastern half of Puerto Rico and begins to fill in with clouds.

This is also the same time that the hurricane is weakening from a category 4 storm with winds of 155 mph to a category 2 storm with winds of 110 mph.

This land interaction weakens the storm’s wind field and overall strength which in turn deforms the eye’s structure.

Should the storm continue to west moving across Hispaniola and Cuba, we would likely see further weakening of the storm, but in this case Maria’s eye returns to the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean and begins to regenerate and strengthen.

Further down the forecast path Hurricane Maria is anticipated to encounter stronger winds aloft which will also pull at her wind field from atop; this will lead to the storm weakening as well.

IMAGE: The Greater Antilles; the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, is referred to as the ‘Hurricane Graveyard’ as their mountainous terrain wreak havoc on the wind field of storms passing through the region. (Photo: WEYI/WSMH)

For more on this story go to: http://nbc25news.com/news/local/the-hurricane-graveyard-why-mountainous-terrain-weakens-these-powerful-storms