According to the National Hurricane Center’s forecast, the top wind speeds for Hurricane Lee could reach 155 mph, just 2 mph shy of a Category 5 hurricane.
On Friday, Lee’s swells are expected to reach parts of the Lesser Antilles, and this weekend, they are expected to reach the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Bahamas and Bermuda, potentially posing a life-threatening threat. Several of these islands are expected to experience tropical storm conditions over the weekend, according to the hurricane center.
The forecast, however, could change. 25 miles off in the forecast, or a shift in wind currents, could put the storm as a direct hit to the East Coast. We recommend Mike’s Weather page, out of Florida, as his models have proven to be consistently accurate.
As of 5 a.m. Thursday, Lee was 965 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands, the eastern boundary of the Caribbean. Lee was moving west-northwest at 13 mph with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. Lee’s center was 90 miles away from tropical storms with hurricane-force winds reaching 15 miles away.
By early tomorrow, Lee is expected to become a major hurricane.
FORECAST AS OF September 6, 5 p.m.
Despite the hurricane’s forecast track, it is too early to tell how close the system will come to the eastern Caribbean islands.
In its latest update, the National Hurricane Center said some of these islands may experience tropical storm conditions over the weekend.
Puerto Rico, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic lie just north of the cone indicating the possible path of the storm’s eye.
Anthony Reynes, senior forecaster with the National Weather Service in Miami, said the high pressure north of it will steer the storm.
As it moves to the north of Puerto Rico, it will start shifting more northward and eventually northeast. The cyclone is moving around the edge of the high pressure.
According to him, a low pressure trough moving east over the U.S. will also contribute to the storm’s northward motion.
It will be traveling over record-warm water, close to 86 degrees.
It will be the third major hurricane of the 2023 season, after Don, Franklin and Idalia. Franklin and Idalia were major hurricanes.
As a tropical wave moves west-northwest toward the eastern and central tropical Atlantic, another tropical depression is likely to form later in the day or two. According to the latest update from the hurricane center, disorganized showers and thunderstorms were spreading over Cabo Verde Islands off of Africa on Thursday.
The odds of its development were 80% within two days and 90% within seven days as of 8 a.m. Thursday.
In the meantime, Hurricane Franklin’s remnants have a 10% chance of developing “some subtropical or tropical characteristics” over warm waters to the west-northwest of Spain’s northwestern coast.
Under the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center, 14 to 21 named storms are expected, including six to 11 hurricanes and two to five major hurricanes.
Due to ongoing record-breaking sea surface temperatures, the National Hurricane Center has predicted an “above-normal” hurricane season for 2023.
Even though sea-surface temperatures have remained hot for longer than expected, El Nio’s effects, which usually reduce hurricane chances, have been delayed.