Hurricane Lee tracker: Follow path of Category 3 storm as it continues to move north

Hurricane Lee remains a large and powerful hurricane that is expected to bring hazardous surf and rip current conditions to beaches across the East Coast all week, the National Hurricane Center said.

Lee, which was situated north of Puerto Rico on Tuesday morning, was forecast to move parallel to the East Coast and a few hundred miles to the east, bringing waves and hazardous surf all along the coastline.

"It’s going to produce a tremendous amount of energy in the ocean in the form of traditional ocean waves," Jamie Rhome, the hurricane center's deputy director, told USA TODAY on Monday. “When that energy strikes the coast, it produces this huge rip current risk.”

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As of Tuesday morning, Lee maintained Category 3 status with maximum sustained winds near 115 mph with higher gusts, according to the hurricane center. The storm is forecast to weaken during the next few days.

The National Hurricane Center said Lee is expected to pass near but to the west of Bermuda in the coming days.

DIG DEEPER: Hurricane Lee's projected path to bring big surf, dangerous currents to US East Coast

Hurricane Lee path tracker live

This forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm. It does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time.

Hurricane Lee spaghetti models

A note about the spaghetti models: Model plot illustrations include an array of forecast tools and models, and not all are created equal. The hurricane center uses the top four or five highest-performing models to help make its forecasts.

Contributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Lee tracker, spaghetti models: Follow path of storm