MIAMI: The tropical storm Hurricane Lee that has formed in the Atlantic and threatens the United States and the Caribbean.
Hurricane Lee formed Wednesday afternoon far out in the Atlantic Ocean, the National Hurricane Center said and it is “likely to intensify into an extremely dangerous major hurricane by early Saturday.” It remains unclear if it will make landfall or blow out to sea.
It’s the fourth hurricane of the 2023 season. With a wind speed of 75 mph, the storm is now a Category 1 hurricane, and is expected to become a Category 4 hurricane, with winds approaching 150 mph, by the weekend.
Forecasters from the hurricane center were not predicting that winds would reach Category 5 strength, which is 157 mph. However, meteorologists from AccuWeather said Lee “is forecast to intensify rapidly into a powerful Category 5 hurricane” by the weekend.
Tropical Storm Lee strengthened to a hurricane and is expected to build into an “extremely dangerous” storm by early Friday, forecasters warned.
Hurricane Lee is about 1130 miles (1815km) east of the northern Leeward Islands, according to the 5pm (eastern time) report from the National Hurricane Center, with maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour (120 kph).
Hurricane #Lee Advisory 7: Lee Forecast to Become an Extremely Dangerous Major Hurricane By Friday. Large Ocean Swells Likely to Reach the Lesser Antilles, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico Through the Weekend. https://t.co/tW4KeGe9uJ
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 7, 2023
11AM AST Sep 6: #Lee is forecast to become a major hurricane by early Saturday. Swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip currents across portions of the Lesser Antilles late this week. Stay up to date with the latest at https://t.co/tW4KeGdBFb pic.twitter.com/2CVr855fan
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) September 6, 2023
Current projections show Hurricane Lee will not make landfall but pass north of the British Virgin Islands, which is still recovering from hurricanes Maria and Irma in September 2017.
READ MORE: Tropical Storm Lee expected to become “extremely dangerous” hurricane
Lee, which intensified into a hurricane on Wednesday evening, is likely to become a Category 5 “extremely dangerous” hurricane by Friday, a day earlier than previously anticipated,
The Miami-based centre warned that the large ocean swells will likely reach the Lesser Antilles, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico by the weekend.
In the Pacific, Hurricane Jova strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane far off the southwest coast of Mexico and posed no threat to land.
It was located some 600 miles south of Baja California and moving west-northwest at 13 mph with winds up to 105mph. It was expected to become a major hurricane by Wednesday night.
