Hurricane Lee continued to gain strength over the Atlantic early on Thursday morning as forecasts predict it will become a “major hurricane” on Friday, possibly triggering tropical storm-like conditions and dangerous ocean swells in parts of the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico.
This Wednesday satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows ... [+]
In its Thursday morning update, the National Hurricane center reported maximum sustained wind speeds of around 80 mph—up from 75 mph on Wednesday evening—making it a Category 1 storm as of Thursday afternoon.
Thursday is expected to be a day of “rapid intensification” as it strengthens to become a “major hurricane” over the next 24 hours, potentially ending up as a Category 4 storm.
Forecasts suggest the hurricane will pass to the north of the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico sometime this weekend—although neither is projected to take a direct hit at present.
Swells generated by the hurricane are expected to affect the Lesser Antilles, the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, the Bahamas, and Bermuda over the next two days and cause “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”
According to current projections, the powerful hurricane is expected to turn away from the U.S. east coast although some models suggest potential impacts on the mid-atlantic region next week.
130 mph. That is the minimum sustained wind speed of hurricanes classified as Category 4 under the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, going all the way up to 155 mph. According to the NHC, a category 4 storm can cause “severe damage” to even well-built frame homes along with weeks or even months long power outages.
A key reason attributed to the rapid intensification of Lee—like with Idalia last week—is rising ocean temperatures. Last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned of an "above normal" hurricane season owing to the surface temperature of the Atlantic ocean being higher than normal. Research suggests that warmer ocean temperatures are likely to cause more severe storms and recent reports show that parts of the Atlantic are witnessing hot tub level surface temperatures. Climate scientists have warned that the extreme weather events witnessed across the northern hemisphere this year are a direct result of human driven climate change.
Hurricane Lee, comes just a week after Idalia made landfall in Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm. Idalia’s impact was less severe than initially anticipated as the hurricane dropped from Category 4 speeds due to a fortuitous “eyewall replacement” just before landfall, in which the storm’s inner eyewall weakened and was replaced by a contracting outer eyewall. In Florida officials have attributed only two deaths to the storm.
Tropical Storm Lee Upgraded To Hurricane Lee In Atlantic—And Could Become Major Hurricane (Forbes)