Hurricane Lee expected to again reach Category 4 strength; Hurricane Margot forecast to form
Hurricane Lee’s maximum sustained winds are forecast to hit 130 mph by Monday afternoon, putting the storm at Category 4 strength.
Tropical Storm Margot, meanwhile, is forecast to become the Atlantic season’s fifth hurricane later Monday, and two tropical waves near Africa are expected to merge later this week as they move toward the central tropical Atlantic.
Lee is still forecast to turn north in the next few days, paralleling the U.S. east coast, but well offshore, and to the west of Bermuda.
The hurricane center’s prediction extends through Saturday morning, at which time the storm will be slightly less powerful, but still a hurricane, traveling off the coast of Southern New England.
The cone indicating the possible path of the eye of the storm just touches Cape Cod, Massachusetts at the moment.
As of 11 a.m. Monday, Lee was about 615 miles south-southeast of Bermuda, moving northwest at 8 mph with sustained wind speeds of 120 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Lee had been a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph early Thursday, but by late that night, its top wind speed had spiked to 160 mph, making it a colossus Category 5 storm. By early Friday, Lee’s maximum sustained winds intensified to 165 mph before declining.
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The hurricane center warned of “hazardous surf and rip currents” at beaches across the Bahamas and the east coast of the U.S. all week.
The weather service added that South Florida beaches will experience “deteriorating beach and boating conditions” by the middle of this week with a likely risk of deadly rip currents starting as soon as Monday. As Lee gradually builds swells during the week, there could be some minor beach erosion from rough surf pounding against shore at high tide.
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The NHC warned that although they expect the storm’s wind speed to weaken slightly, Lee will grow in size significantly, extending hazards well away from the center of the storm by the end of the forecast period.
Lee is the fourth Atlantic hurricane of the 2023 season, behind Don, Franklin and Idalia, and the third major hurricane, meaning Category 3 or above. Franklin and Idalia were major hurricanes.
Forecasters are also watching two disturbances in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean, one with a 10% chance of development in the next two to seven days, the other with a 60% chance over the next week.
The one nearest to North America, which has a 10% chance, is expected to move slowly west before merging with the tropical wave to its east, forecasters said Monday. That wave, nearer to Africa’s west coast, is forecast potentially become a tropical depression on a west-northwest track.
Tropical Storm Margot is expected to become a hurricane Monday night, forecasters said. If so, it would become the season’s fifth.
Margot formed over the eastern tropical Atlantic on Thursday, and is forecast to turn north, not currently a threat to South Florida.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 105 miles from the center as of 11 a.m. Monday.
The season officially runs from through Nov. 30.
