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Hurricane Lee is set to strengthen again to a category four bringing monster waves and lethal riptides as early as this weekend even if coastline is spared a direct hit.
Forecasters say the storm, once a category 5 but downgraded to a category 3 on Saturday, continues to pack dangerous 115 mph winds and gusts of 140 creating hazardous conditions as it charts a new course and picks up strength.
Experts predict the storm will strengthen over the next 24-48 hours as it hits a more favorable environment, allowing the storm to become a category 4 that will hit sometime on Tuesday, The Weather Channel reported.
By Saturday late afternoon, the storm was approximately 350 miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands, and is moving west-northwest.
By Sunday into Monday, Lee is expected to cause rip currents and large waves across most of the East Coast and worsen through the week, CNN reported.
Forecasters are also predicting that tropical storm Margot could turn into another hurricane – but it is not expected to make landfall. The storm has formed in the North Atlantic Ocean is suspected to reach winds of over 73mph this weekend.
Hurricane Lee was a a category 5 storm that packed winds of up to 160 mph
Radar showing the storm’s trajectory
‘Lee is moving toward the west-northwest near 12 mph and this motion is expected to continue through early next week with a significant decrease in forward speed beginning later today and Sunday,’ the hurricane center reported.
Hazardous beach conditions are expected to develop around the western Atlantic through next week, the news outlet reported.
The Weather Channel reported that the storm was heading between Bermuda and North Carolina and parts of Maine. While another storm model showed Hurricane Lee’s path strengthening between Bermuda and the US.
The hurricane center said it is was still too early to determine whether the core of the storm will directly impact the US mainland.
The Hurricane Center said Tropical storm Margot is currently 460 miles west-northwest of the Cabo Verde Islands and is moving west-northwest at 16 miles per hour.
Weather experts say Margot is currently not a threat to any land and is expected to stay over the ocean.
Hurricane Lee that grew rapidly into a monster Category 5 hurricane from Thursday to Friday morning holding the title of the strongest hurricane to churn in the Atlantic during the 2023 season, AccuWeather said.
The weather station reported that the hurricane as it spins north of the Caribbean this weekend, prior to taking a northward turn along the East Coast of the United States next week.
As meteorologists warn that the threat of impacts in New England are increasing, and much of the East Coast will experience heavy seas and dangerous surf.
Lee has already traveled more than 1,000 miles since its origin that began over the west-central Atlantic early last week, AccuWeather reported.
It will likely more than double that distance by early next week.
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This weekend Hurricane Lee is expected to take a curved path around a large area of high pressure sitting over the central Atlantic that experts predict will guide the mega storm north of the northern islands of the Caribbean.
The colossal storm will then move northeast of the Bahamas, west of Bermuda and east of the southeastern United States into the first half of next week.
Stunning footage has revealed the thunderous eye of Hurricane Lee as it barrels toward the eastern seaboard – threatening to leave a trail of chaos in its wake after escalating from a Category 1 to Category 5 hurricane overnight.
Hurricane Lee is pictured swirling over the Caribbean on Thursday – the first Category 5 storm of the season
Forecasters have struggled to nail down the exact path and potency of Hurricane Lee, leading to varying estimates over its the extent of the damage it could bring
Hurricane Hunters post a clip of Hurrricane Lee on September 8, 2023. The caption said,’ here’s last night’s flight inside the eye of the category 5
Hurricane Lee is thundering towards the East Coast and is forecast to make landfall next week, after severe weather begun battering the region Friday evening
The Air Force’s ‘Hurricane Hunters’, a weather reconnaissance squadron, showed relentless lightning strikes lighting up the twister in a breathtaking social media post on Friday.
Hurricane Lee has swirled over the Atlantic Ocean for days as it picked up steam, but forecasters have struggled to nail down its path and it is not expected to make landfall until late next week.
While the East Coast braces for impact, New York City and Boston got an early taste of the potential havoc as currents off the hurricane brought severe storms Friday evening.
The Big Apple was hit by thunder and lightning, as well as clouds some locals found ‘creepy,’ while further up the coast in Massachusetts trees and power lines were felled by strong winds.
Hurricane Lee was registered as a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday after it formed near the Leeward Islands in The Caribbean.
Forecasters were quick to warn that it had devastating potential, and shocking satellite projections captured it surging in speed and potency by Thursday as it reached over 160mph.
Earlier in the day, the storm registered speeds of around 80mph and after it spiraled over the Atlantic, waves reached upwards of 55 feet near the center, the National Hurricane Center found.
One of the reasons for the escalation are unseasonably warm waters over the Atlantic ocean, which have registered near 86 degrees Fahrenheit in its path that meteorologists said are more akin to temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico than the Atlantic.
As of Friday evening, Lee remained far off the US coastline and was roughly 440 miles east of the Leeward Islands, moving northwest at a rate of 13mph, according to the New York Times.
While it spirals far to the southeast of its potential landfall, meteorologist and hurricane expert Michael Lowry warned that it has properties that could result in significant damage.
He said on X (formerly Twitter) that ‘Lee is the farthest southeast we’ve ever observed a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic since records began 172 years ago.
