Hurricane Lee is expected to decrease in strength but could grow in size as it travels northward toward Maine and Nova Scotia throughout the week, leading to large swells and dangerous ocean conditions along the East Coast.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) listed Lee as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph and even stronger gusts as of 9 a.m. CST on Tuesday.
Although it is predicted to weaken over the next 48 hours, the NHC stated in a public advisory that the storm is “expected to remain a large and powerful hurricane.”
Lee is expected to be downgraded to a nontropical storm by the time it makes landfall in the Northeast, meaning the winds will be weaker, but the overall field of impact will grow in size, according to The Washington Post.
A forecast discussion released by the NHC stated that “[d]angerous surf and life-threatening rip currents” will affect multiple Caribbean islands near the hurricane’s path, along with “most of the U.S. East Coast through much of the week.”
“It remains too soon to know what level of additional impacts Lee might have along the northeastern U.S. coast and Atlantic Canada late this week and this weekend,” the NHC noted.
“However, since wind and rainfall hazards will extend well away from the center as Lee grows in size, users should continue to monitor updates to Lee’s forecast during the next several days.”
The NHC predicts the hurricane will pass west of Bermuda in the next one to three days and will continue to travel northward toward Maine over the next four to five days, placing the state in the NHC’s “cone of concern.”
Bernie Rayno, chief on-air meteorologist at AccuWeather, said changes within the eye of the hurricane could cause the strength to fluctuate throughout the week.
“Landfall is most likely in Nova Scotia, Canada, this weekend, but any waver in the track caused by non-tropical weather systems such as the high pressure to the east and the approaching jet stream could pull the hurricane westward toward New England or push it farther east toward Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Raynos, according to AccuWeather.
Some areas along the East Coast have already instituted warnings about the potentially life-threatening waves and currents.
National park officials in Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, warned that conditions may be dangerous and urged beachgoers “to avoid swimming in the ocean until conditions improve.”
“Large breaking waves, life-threatening rip currents, beach erosion, ocean overwash and coastal flooding are all possible,” a Cape Hatteras National Seashore Facebook post read. “These dangerous conditions are expected to persist into this weekend.”