Hurricane Lee is not at present predicted to make landfall — however all eyes might be on the extreme storm’s path because it slows down close to the U.S. East Coast and Bermuda.

National Hurricane Center

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National Hurricane Center

Hurricane Lee is not at present predicted to make landfall — however all eyes might be on the extreme storm’s path because it slows down close to the U.S. East Coast and Bermuda.

National Hurricane Center

Hurricane Lee has grown shockingly quick, and it is not performed: its winds are forecast to high 180 mph by Friday night.

For now, Lee is an “incredibly powerful” Category 5 storm with 165 mph winds, the National Hurricane Center says. But fortunately, it is not at present threatening to make landfall wherever within the U.S. or the Caribbean.

That does not imply nobody will expertise any results from Lee. The hurricane’s sheer energy will carry harmful seashore circumstances to Puerto Rico and different islands on Friday and Saturday. By Sunday, “most of the U.S. East Coast” will see harmful rip currents, in response to the NHC.

The newest forecast sees the guts of the storm staying properly north of the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico because it strikes west-northwest throughout open water this weekend and early subsequent week. Hurricane Hunter plane ventured into the storm’s eye early Friday, to watch its intensification.

Next for Lee: extra energy, then progress

It took simply 24 hours for Lee’s most sustained winds to roar from 80 mph to 160 mph, from late Wednesday to late Thursday. It is now roiling the ocean, with waves peaking between 45 and 55 ft close to its middle, in response to the NHC.

If you are considering it is early for a hurricane to achieve this stature, you are not fallacious. As hurricane professional Michael Lowry says, “Lee is the farthest southeast we’ve ever observed a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic since records began 172 years ago.”

The fearsome storm is anticipated to maintain including energy on Friday, earlier than beginning to ramp down its gaudy windspeeds a bit late Saturday and early Sunday. Still, it is anticipated to solidly stay a serious storm by means of the approaching 5 days.

Up up to now, Lee has been comparatively small, in comparison with its energy. But the storm is anticipated to get bigger over the weekend and into early subsequent week — extending the specter of its harmful ocean swells.

While its winds are exceptionally quick, the storm is predicted to sluggish its motion over the water to a close to crawl. As of Friday morning, Lee was transferring west-northwest at near 14 mph, however the NHC predicts “a significant decrease in forward speed.”

For individuals monitoring Lee from the Bahamas to the East Coast — and making an attempt to guess when the slowing storm may pivot to the north — the approaching days may really feel like watching a soccer participant stutter-step as they put together to take a penalty kick. As of now, the NHC’s five-day “forecast cone” exhibits solely a slight nudge to the north, subsequent Wednesday.

All eyes are on the storm’s path

A satellite tv for pc picture exhibits Hurricane Lee simply earlier than dawn Friday, with the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico to the west.

NOAA/NESDIS/STAR

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NOAA/NESDIS/STAR

A satellite tv for pc picture exhibits Hurricane Lee simply earlier than dawn Friday, with the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico to the west.

NOAA/NESDIS/STAR

So far, the storm is not posing a right away menace to anybody on land. But specialists advise preserving a detailed eye on the storm.

“It is way too soon to know what level of impacts, if any, Lee might have along the U.S. East Coast, Atlantic Canada, or Bermuda late next week, particularly since the hurricane is expected to slow down considerably over the southwestern Atlantic,” the NHC’s John Cangialosi wrote in his dialogue of the forecast.

There is an opportunity Lee won’t make landfall wherever. Several long-range models predict Lee will curve north — lacking islands alongside the Caribbean and staying away from the U.S. mainland. While fashions are typically correct, they don’t seem to be good. In 2017, Hurricane Irma was purported to comply with the same path — but it surely wound up smacking Florida’s Gulf coast.

Warm waters are intensifying Lee

The system has gained energy passing over “record-warm waters of near [86 degrees Fahrenheit] east of the Lesser Antilles,” the NHC said, including that such heat waters usually tend to be discovered within the Gulf of Mexico, not the Atlantic Ocean.

The frequency of intense and damaging tropical storms and hurricanes have been linked to local weather change. As NOAA has stated, “Warming of the surface ocean from human-induced climate change is likely fueling more powerful tropical cyclones.”

The storms’ damaging energy is then magnified by different elements associated to world warming, from rising sea ranges to extra intense rainfall totals.