FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Hurricane Lee’s long-awaited turn in the Atlantic to start moving north — away from Florida — is expected to happen as early as Wednesday. Then the Category 3 storm should start running parallel to the U.S. east coast, while accelerating and growing wider, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The Atlantic Basin is active with three other systems.
Hurricane Margot is expected to continue north and remain a Category 1 storm. Farther east, two tropical waves near Africa are in the process of merging into one system that has an 80% chance of developing into a tropical depression by the weekend as it moves northwest toward the central tropical Atlantic.
Though forecasters expect Lee to weaken slightly as it heads north, they also expect it to grow significantly in width, enhancing its impact area. The storm will parallel the U.S. East Coast and remain west of Bermuda.
Lee’s hurricane-strength winds expanded to reach 90 miles from its center and tropical-storm-force winds are now extending outward 205 miles.
The storm’s growing wind field should impact Bermuda on Thursday, prompting the Bermuda Weather Service to issue a Tropical Storm Watch.
Long Island and southern New England could see tropical-storm-force winds arriving as early as Friday.
The hurricane center’s prediction extends through Sunday morning, at which time the storm may have dissipated to a tropical storm, making potential landfall in an area the includes coastal Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
As of 11 a.m. Eastern time Tuesday, Lee was about 545 miles south of Bermuda, moving west-northwest at 6 mph and maintaining top wind speeds of 115 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Last week, Lee went through exceptionally rapid intensification, vaulting from a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph early Thursday to a dangerous Category 5 storm with 165 mph winds in just 24 hours.
The hurricane center warned of “hazardous surf and rip currents” at beaches across the Bahamas and the east coast of the U.S. all week.
The weather service added that South Florida beaches will experience “deteriorating beach and boating conditions” by the middle of this week with a likely risk of deadly rip currents.
As Lee gradually builds swells during the week, there could be some minor beach erosion from rough surf pounding against shore at high tide.
Lee is expected to move over cooler sea temperatures after Hurricane Idalia and Hurricane Franklin later in the week. That, along with wind shear and dry air, is expected to weaken Lee steadily late this week and throughout the weekend, forecasters said.
Lee is the fourth Atlantic hurricane of the 2023 season, behind Don, Franklin and Idalia, and the third major hurricane, meaning Category 3 or above. Franklin and Idalia were major hurricanes.
A strengthening Hurricane Margot was at Category 1 early Tuesday, with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph.
It is forecast to turn north or northwest and is not currently a threat to South Florida. The latest advisory indicates Margot could begin to weaken on Thursday.
Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from Margot’s center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles.
Forecasters also are watching two disturbances in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean that in the process of merging, potentially developing into a tropical depression as the systems move across the central tropical Atlantic.
The season officially runs through Nov. 30. The next named storm will be Nigel.
