Hurricane Lee continues to grow larger in size as it moves northward and threatens to affects parts of Bermuda, New England and Atlantic Canada.
Moving at 7mph (11.3km/h) and packing winds of up to 115mph (185km/h), Lee was positioned 380 miles (612km) north of the northern Leeward Islands as well as 600 miles (965km) south of Bermuda, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Monday evening. That track triggered a tropical storm watch for Bermuda.
Based on the path projected for the stormy Tuesday, Lee was expected to make landfall in either Nova Scotia or the coast of Maine.
Intense rainfall has already hit parts of the US east coast. Just outside Boston, a flash flood emergency order went into effect. The NHC said to expect hazardous surf and rip current conditions at beaches along the Atlantic all week.
On Tuesday morning, the northern Caribbean, the Bahamas, Florida and the Carolinas saw large waves. By Wednesday, those waves were expected to reach the shore of New Jersey as well as that of Long Island.
Although Lee was a category 3 hurricane on Tuesday, its wind intensity was expected to weaken, causing it to lose its major hurricane status as it entered less favorable conditions for it to develop. Nonetheless, the NHC warned that Lee’s expanding wind field would “produce impacts well away from the storm center”.
Hurricane intensity is categorized on an ascending scale of 1 to 5.
Lee is the 12th named storm to form in the Atlantic in 2023. It formed as the climate crisis continued increasing the risk of extreme weather events like heatwaves, wildfires and floods, in addition to tropical storms and hurricanes.
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This year the planet has already registered the hottest summer on record. And abnormally warm ocean temperatures have served as a catalyst for increased tropical storm and hurricane activity, according to experts.
