The strongest and doubtlessly harmful hurricane of the 12 months is rapidly gaining steam within the Atlantic Ocean’s record-warm waters, as meteorologists inform East Coast residents to “keep a close eye on” the key storm’s forecast observe over the subsequent a number of days.
Hurricane Lee strengthened right into a Category 2 hurricane with most sustained winds of 105 mph on Thursday whereas the storm remained far east of Puerto Rico. Forecasters have been predicting that Lee would change into a significant hurricane by Thursday evening.
Lee is predicted to achieve energy to a monster Category 5 hurricane, which might be the primary storm to hit that highest hurricane depth degree this 12 months.
“It looks like Lee is rapidly strengthening right now, and we expect it to continue to quickly strengthen,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist John Feerick informed the Herald on Thursday.
“It’s difficult to say this far out, but there’s potential for this to impact the East Coast from the Carolinas up into New England as we head into late next week,” he added. “It appears that the more likely scenario is it misses to the east, but this is something the East Coast will need to keep a close eye on.”
The key to Lee’s potential East Coast influence would be the positioning of the jet stream. Models have the jet stream nearer to the East Coast, which might assist steer Lee out to sea.
But if the jet stream stays out nearer to the Midwest, Lee would have extra ahead momentum and will come quite a bit nearer to the East Coast, Feerick mentioned.
“It’s nothing to panic about just yet, but it’s something to continue to watch over the next several days,” he added.
If Lee stays out to sea, the New England coast might nonetheless see harmful surf and rip currents.
“Even if Lee were to curve out to sea and miss southern New England, a potential impact could be rough surf and rip currents,” mentioned Torry Gaucher, meteorologist on the National Weather Service’s Boston workplace. “It’s definitely something you’ll want to keep checking in on over the next several days.”
Now is an efficient time to assessment any hurricane preparedness plans, he added.
Lee’s core was anticipated to maneuver north of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico this weekend and early subsequent week.
Swells generated by Lee will seemingly attain parts of the Lesser Antilles on Friday, and the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, the Bahamas, and Bermuda this weekend. These swells are more likely to trigger life-threatening surf and rip present situations.
“Many of the models are calling for remarkable rates of intensification, beyond rates normally seen with model forecasts,” the National Hurricane Center wrote.
NHC added, “Hurricane Hunter aircraft are scheduled to investigate Lee beginning this (Thursday) evening and overnight, which should provide extremely useful information about Lee’s intensity during the coming days.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
