The National Hurricane Center issued a forecast on Tuesday stating that Tropical Storm Lee, which is now located in the Atlantic Ocean, could rapidly intensify into a “extremely dangerous” hurricane by this weekend. The announcement came as the peak of hurricane season is expected to arrive in early September.
If Hurricane Lee strengthens into a major hurricane of category 3 or higher by Friday, it is possible that its impacts may be seen throughout the weekend in the Leeward Islands, which are located in the Caribbean.
On Sunday evening, winds might potentially exceed 150 miles per hour, as indicated by the hurricane center.
A report that was published by the National Hurricane Center on Tuesday evening at 11 p.m. Eastern Time said that the tropical storm is now producing maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and is traveling around 1,230 miles east of the Leeward Islands. The Leeward Islands are comprised of the Virgin Islands, Saint Martin, and Antigua and Barbuda.
As Hurricane Lee continues to cruise west-northwest over the tropical Atlantic Ocean until the end of the week, it is anticipated that it will get within a few hundred miles of the Leeward Islands during the next weekend.
However, any changes in its track as it approaches the islands might have significant repercussions for the future. Everyone who lives in the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and the Bahamas in the eastern Caribbean has to keep a close eye on the weather forecast.
It is too early to know if this storm will make landfall in the United States, but even if it doesn’t, the East Coast might be endangered by strong surf and rip currents in the event that it does not. During the weekend of Labor Day in New Jersey, a rip current was responsible for the death of one individual.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Tropical Storm Lee developed on Tuesday morning in the middle of the tropical Atlantic. The storm is now moving through waters that are unusually warm, which is a circumstance that is expected to contribute to a rapid strengthening of the storm.
The term “rapid intensification” refers to the process through which the winds of a storm become much stronger in a very short amount of time. Scientists have defined the phenomenon as a surge in wind speed of at least 35 miles per hour in less than 24 hours. This phenomenon is made possible by warm ocean waters.
As it continues to move in a west-northwesterly direction, Lee will encounter more favorable conditions for its intensification this week. Almost the whole anticipated path of the potential cyclone is marked by an abundance of moisture, low wind shear, and abnormally warm water.
“The NHC intensity forecast is extremely bullish for a first forecast, but remarkably lies below the intensity consensus,” the National Hurricane Center noted in its storm discussion. “The NHC intensity forecast is extremely bullish for a first forecast.” At the end of the time period for which predictions are being made, it is anticipated that the depression will have developed into a strong hurricane.
Lee would be the fourth person to join that club if he were to do so this season, following in the footsteps of Don, Franklin, and Idalia. It is anticipated that by the beginning of the weekend, the storm will have intensified greatly and will have been the third hurricane of this season to have a Category 3 or higher rating.
The climatological height of hurricane season coincides with the tenth of September, which is also the day on which the average number of hurricanes that form in the Atlantic Basin occurs. It is not unheard of for there to be a surge of tropical activity around this time of the year, but the situation may deteriorate rapidly and become deadly.
According to Philip Klotzbach, a research scientist at Colorado State University, the Atlantic hurricane season of 2023 is well on its way to being more active than average in terms of the overall number of named storms, hurricanes, and major hurricanes. This prediction is based on the fact that there have already been a significant number of named storms.