Due to no "immediately identifiable hindrances to further strengthening", intensity forecasts indicated Jose reaching hurricane status by late on October 19. Later that day, three computer models predicted that the anticyclone over Jose would move west-northwestward, causing the storm to potentially strengthen to a major hurricane. However, the National Hurricane Center questioned these forecasts, as the same computer models predicted a similar scenario for Tropical Depression Twelve earlier that month. After t-numbers on the Dvorak scale reached 4.0 and a reconnaissance aircraft flight reported winds of , it was estimated that Jose became a hurricane at 1800 UTC on October 19. Early on the following day, cloud tops reached temperatures as low as and the hurricane also developed an eye with a radius of about .