Hurricane Lee Remains Category 3: See Potential Impacts For FL

TAMPA, FL — Hurricane Lee remains a large and powerful Category 3 hurricane as it begins a slow west-northwest to northwest motion for the next day or two, followed by a turn toward the north by the middle of the week, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami's 9 a.m. advisory.

The project path of the storm seems all but certain to take it away from Florida, with landfall possible in New England or Canada.

Hurricane Lee is not forecast to impact Florida. CBS Miami chief meteorologist and hurricane specialist Ivan Cabrera Lee said the storm system was expected to turn to the north and away from the southeast U.S. coast.

AccuWeather meteorologists ruled out landfall by Lee from Florida to North Carolina late last week. On Tuesday, forecasters expanded that all-clear to include areas as far to the north as Delaware. However, these areas will experience frequent and strong rip currents that could be life-threatening. Rough surf will lead to beach erosion in the zone.

From New England to Canada's Atlantic provinces, Hurricane Lee may produce a storm surge, along with strong winds and risk of property damage, AccuWeather.com said.

"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," AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno.

Packing near 115 mph maximum sustained hurricane-force winds that extend out 80 miles from the eye, Lee is expected to pass just to the west of Bermuda in the next few days, whipping up the waters of the Atlantic Ocean along the East Coast.

Life-threatening swells and rip tides are beginning to impact the Southeastern U.S. and will continue along East Coast beaches throughout the week, said the NHC.

Currently located about 575 miles south of Bermuda, Hurricane Lee is moving west-northwest at 7 mph, and the NHC expects to issue tropical storm watches in Bermuda later Tuesday.

The Atlantic basin's third hurricane of the 2023 season, Hurricane Lee is tracking dangerously close to making landfall in the New England area or eastern Canada by Friday, the NHC said. However, the hurricane center in Miami said it's too soon to know what level of impacts Lee might have along the Northeastern U.S. coast and Atlantic Canada late this week and this weekend. Lee could bring significant wind and rainfall hazards as the center of Lee increases in size.

Related:

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• Hurricane Lee Swells To Category 4 Storm, Still Intensifying: NHC

Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters out of Lakeland Linder International Airport flew into the hurricane Tuesday morning and confirmed that the hurricane has a large, well-developed eye wall. However, satellite estimates show a gradual weakening of the hurricane as it passes over the cooler waters of the Gulf Stream at the end of the week.

Lee formed as a tropical storm on Sept. 5, and become a hurricane a day later, making it the third-fastest intensifying Atlantic hurricane on record.

Following closely behind Hurricane Lee is Margot, which developed into a tropical storm on Sept. 7 and strengthened into a hurricane on Monday.

At 9 a.m. Hurricane Margot was 935 miles southwest of the Azores along the western edge of West Africa with maximum sustained and is moving north at 13 mph.

The NHC said Margot is expected to strengthen in the next day or so and then weaken beginning Thursday due to a blocking ridge forming in the north Atlantic. However, the NHC said the hurricane could regain its strength and speed within four or five days once it's out of the ridge.

Margot's hurricane-force winds extend 25 miles from the center of the hurricane with tropical storm-force winds extending 140 miles out.

Since the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, there have been 14 tropical cyclones, four of which strengthened into hurricanes, including Franklin on Aug. 22 and Idalia on Aug. 30.