Hurricane Lee becomes monster Category 5 off east coast, turn north expected.
MIAMI – Hurricane Lee has rapidly strengthened into a major Category 5 storm as it approaches the U.S. east coast, with models expecting it to make a sharp turn further north.
While that turn is expected, as of Friday morning, the National Hurricane Center has not yet officially forecasted that in its cone, which broadly expects the storm to by Wednesday be somewhere north of Puerto Rico and still east of the Bahamas.
In their forecast discussion, the National Hurricane Center said there is “uncertainty” in a turn early next week, meaning the timing and exact location of such term is still too far out to officially forecast.
Lee was named by the center on Tuesday. The storm was recorded undergoing “rapid intensification” Thursday into Friday morning.
It originated from a tropical wave off the west coast of Africa.
Despite it currently traveling west-northwest, major weather models like the GFS expect it to begin a northern turn once it gets closer to the Caribbean islands; though as of yet, meteorologists continue to watch the storm for potential model and future forecast shifts.
WESH meteorologist Eric Burris noted that forecast models indeed suggest at-or-near Category 4 intensity like the National Hurricane Center forecasted: “It’s an almost perfect setup for rapid intensification.”
“We’re in the ‘watch for trends’ phase,” Burris said, commenting on the odds of the storm threatening the U.S. mainland, which models currently suggest as unlikely. “This means that while there will be nudges run to run, look for things to keep trending one way or another.”
The storm comes as the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season approaches on Sept. 10. Tropical activity typically picks up from late-August into October.
Florida was recently impacted by Hurricane Idalia, which traveled north through the Gulf of Mexico late in August. It peaked at Category 4 strength, but made landfall as a Category 3 storm in Florida’s Big Bend region.
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