Hurricane Lee: What Al Roker, Weather Channel star Jim Cantore, Ginger Zee forecast

What do we need to know about Hurricane Lee?

According to the National Hurricane Center, at 11 a.m. Monday, Sept. 11, the center of Hurricane Lee remained a major hurricane with hazardous surf and rip current conditions expected at beaches across the Western Atlantic all week.

The NHC reported the storm was moving toward the northwest near 8 mph. On the forecast track, Lee was expected to pass near, but to the west, of Bermuda in a few days. Maximum sustained winds remain near 120 mph with higher gusts. Lee is a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Some strengthening is forecast over the next day or so, followed by gradual weakening.

Swells generated by Lee are affecting portions of the Lesser Antilles, the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico,Hispaniola, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions. Dangerous surf and rip currents have begun to affect portions of the southeastern U.S. coast, and these conditions are forecast to spread northward along much of the U.S. East Coast during the next couple of days.

Bookmark this link: Where will Hurricane Lee go? See spaghetti models, track path and storm activity

What are the top meteorologists saying about the Category 3 hurricane? Here's a roundup.

What does Ginger Zee of ABC News say about Hurricane Lee?

Ginger Zee, chief meteorologist and managing editor of the climate unit at ABC News, reported about Hurricane Lee's slow move northwest. The longtime "Good Morning America" TV personality is known to some for competing on "Dancing With the Stars."

Zee tweeted her Hurricane Lee update to her 2 million followers on X, formerly known as Twitter: "Monday AM update on #hurricane #Lee — Lee kinda took the weekend to fight some shear & slowly move NW. It will keep doing that until midweek then take a turn north, pass west of Bermuda & potentially have impact to New England/Nova Scotia & New Brunswick by THE WEEKEND!"

Will Hurricane Lee affect Disney World, Orlando theme parks?

On Monday, Sept. 11, Ginger Zee of the hit morning show "Good Morning America" responded to a tweet about whether Hurricane Lee would affect a Disney vacation later this week. Her response? "No impact from Lee for you! Have fun"

What does Al Roker of NBC's 'Today' show say about Hurricane Lee?

On Monday, Sept. 11, longtime "Today" show host and celebrity meteorologist Al Roker warned about rip currents churned by Hurricane Lee. In a news segment on the hit morning show, Roker reported: "You can see just how busy the Atlantic is. We are watching Lee. … It could briefly become a Category 4 storm Tuesday morning. The main impacts we see right now from coastal Florida all the way up to New England for the next seven days (is) high surf, rip current, a dangerous rip current threat."

During the same episode, Roker spotlighted someone waiting in the crowd outside, a young Al Roker fan sporting a shirt with the message: "Always sunshine and rainbows whenever Al is around.” Eleanor and her family were from Los Angeles, where, Roker quipped, "there is plenty of sunshine."

What does Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore say about Hurricane Lee?

Last week, longtime Weather Channel meteorologist Jim Cantore posted or retweeted almost two dozen Lee-related updates to his followers on Twitter. On Sunday, Sept. 10, Cantore tweeted about the system "behind Lee": "On the heels of #Lee and Margot is #invest97L and it’s larger relative near Africa. These two should blend in time. Given it’s the heart of the hurricane season and the entire basin is ripe, this new system may follow a similar path that Lee has traveled thus far. By NEXT weekend (if it evolves) it could potentially be somewhere near the Leeward Islands. After that who knows. This is very early and the purpose of this tweet is simple, "hey there might be something behind Lee that could warrant our interest."

For Hurricane Idalia, Jim Cantore was in Cedar Key, and a Sister Hazel band member posted on social about it

Where is Hurricane Lee headed?

The National Hurricane Center provides updates on Hurricane Lee and other tropical activity in the Atlantic. The Atlantic hurricane season runs June 1 to Nov. 30, but the most active part of the season is from August to October.

Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Lee, rip currents: Al Roker of Today show, Ginger Zee of ABC News warn