After it ravaged through The Bahamas, Dorian proceeded along the coasts of the Southeastern United States and Atlantic Canada, leaving behind considerable damage and economic losses in those regions.

Dorian proceeded to undergo rapid intensification over the following days, before reaching its peak as a Category 5 hurricane with one-minute sustained winds of 185 mph (295 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 910 millibars (26.87 inHg) by September 1.

[9][10] Dorian continued moving west and made landfall at 01:00 UTC on August 27 in Barbados, bringing tropical storm-force winds and heavy rain.

[15] The storm underwent a center relocation further north, to the west of Martinique, causing the island to experience tropical storm-force winds as well.

[16] Dorian had been predicted to travel northwest and pass over or near the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico,[17] possibly allowing their mountainous terrain to weaken the tropical storm.

[14][19] However, the hurricane's small size prevented mainland Puerto Rico from experiencing hurricane- or tropical storm-force winds, although this was not the case for the Spanish Virgin Islands.

With one-minute sustained winds of 180 mph (285 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 913 mbar (27.0 inHg), the NHC noted that Dorian was the strongest hurricane in modern records to affect the northwestern Bahamas.

At 06:00 UTC on September 5, Dorian moved over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream and completed its eyewall replacement cycle, reintensifying into a Category 3 hurricane off the coast of South Carolina.

[37] However, several hours later, Dorian encountered high wind shear, causing the storm to weaken to a Category 2 hurricane[38] early on September 6.

[39] Then, at 12:35 UTC that day, Dorian made landfall in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina as a Category 2 hurricane, with 1-minute sustained winds of 100 mph (160 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 956 mb (28.2 inHg).

[57] Fears centered around the still-unstable power grid which was largely destroyed by Maria;[58] hundreds of utility workers were deployed to quickly fix any outages.

[49][61] A warning to take immediate cover was issued by the NHC Twitter account, at 11 a.m. EDT on September 1, 2019, as Dorian made landfall in Elbow Cay, Bahamas, at 16:40 UTC as a Category 5 hurricane.

[74][75] On September 1, Governor DeSantis said that 4,500 members of the United States National Guard had been activated to help aid those affected by Dorian, saying that the hurricane is "way too close for comfort.

[100] Ultimately, Karen Brinson Bell, the Board's Executive Director, would opt to use her emergency powers to extend early voting hours for the 9th district through Saturday, September 7, but only in four harder-hit counties that actually closed polling sites,[101] and to have other counties further inland which did not close polling sites[102] end early voting on Friday, September 6, as originally prescribed under state law, in order to make the most of the district's resources.

As a result of this near-miss, a tropical storm watch was issued on September 5 from Woods Hole to Sagamore Beach, including Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, in Massachusetts.

[127] On September 4 in the Oval Office, Trump displayed a modified version of the National Hurricane Center's August 29 diagram of Dorian's projected track.

[123][132] On September 6, NOAA published an unsigned statement which supported Trump's initial claim that Alabama was a target of the storm and criticized the Birmingham NWS office for denying it.

[135][138][139] As Dorian approached Atlantic Canada, hurricane and tropical storm warnings were issued for Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland.

[140] On September 6, the Halifax Regional Municipality encouraged residents living along the eastern shores of Nova Scotia to evacuate, citing expected high winds, heavy rainfall, and waves up to 15 m (49 ft) in height.

[141] The Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office implored residents to secure easily dislodged objects to prevent high winds from turning them into projectiles, drawing comparisons to Hurricane Juan in 2003.

[143] WestJet, Air Canada, and Porter Airlines issued travel advisories for the weekend and waived rebooking fees for flights to and from affected areas.

[186] On September 3, Prime Minister Hubert Minnis stated, "Our urgent task will be to provide food, water, shelter, safety and security.

[199] At around 9 a.m. EST that day a tornado touched down in the town of Emerald Isle, causing severe damage to a recreational vehicle park and some mobile homes.

[208] The National Park Service Incident Management Team also reported that wave erosion from Dorian reshaped parts of the barrier islands in the Outer Banks.

[219] First responders evacuated 31 persons from a campground in Prince Edward Island early Sunday morning, on September 7, as it was inundated by storm surge.

[221] In the Cavendish area of Prince Edward Island National Park, 80 percent of trees suffered damage from the high winds, and storm surge caused 2 metres (6.6 ft) of coastal erosion.

The company stated in a press release that "the cruise line spent nearly a full day clearing potential evacuees, including vetting their visa and passport documentation.

[232] The evacuation process was not without confusion as many evacuees who had boarded the Balearia Caribbean, were not told until the vessel had almost departed that anyone traveling to the United States without a visa must disembark.

[233] As the hurricane had damaged or destroyed a majority of the Humane Society of Grand Bahama and killed many of the animals in its care, a GoFundMe was created in order to help renovate and aid the organization's locations.

However, the WMO's 2020 hurricane committee meeting was held online and shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in insufficient time for discussing potential retirements and replacements of tropical cyclone names.