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, well offshore of the United States East Coast, although the hurricane center’s prediction extends only through Friday. By then it is expected to have weakened, although it will still be at hurricane strength.
As of 5 a.m. Monday, Lee was about 650 miles south-southeast of Bermuda, moving northwest at 7 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.
Related Articles
The hurricane center warned that “dangerous surf and rip currents” are expected to spread north along much of the U.S. East Coast for the next several days, according to Monday’s latest forecast advisory.
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.
Related Articles
Storms & Hurricanes | What’s next for Florida property insurance in wake of Hurricane Idalia?
Storms & Hurricanes | ‘Really heartbreaking’: DeSantis surveys Hurricane Idalia damage in hard-hit Big Bend area
Storms & Hurricanes | This summer was a global record breaker for the highest heat ever measured, meteorologists say
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 50% 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 90 miles from the center as of 5 a.m. Monday.
The season officially runs from through Nov. 30.
