All eyes are on Hurricane Lee as the once Category 5 hurricane continues to churn in the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean, and as the storm gets ready to make a turn to the north later this week, millions in the Northeast and New England will need to prepare for potential impacts including possible tropical-storm-force winds, dangerous surf, and life-threatening rip currents.
A U.S. landfall from Hurricane Lee is not expected as of the latest National Hurricane Center (NHC) advisory and instead, the forecast calls for Lee to hit Canada. But on Monday land was included in Lee’s forecast cone for the first time in the storm’s history.
Boston had been included in the forecast cone on Monday, but the forecast has since shifted back to the east, leaving Cape Cod and Nantucket, Massachusetts in the cone, as well as most of the state of Maine.
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Forecasters expect Hurricane Lee to continue weakening as it moves closer to New England and become extratropical, so for those living in New England the potential impacts will be more like a nor’easter during the winter rather than a land-falling hurricane.
An extratropical cyclone is a system that lost its tropical characteristics. The storm’s energy source is converted from the release of energy from latent heat of condensation (rising air from warm ocean water) to the clash between warm and cold air masses.
“For residents across New England, I would wrap your mind around more of a nor’easter effect, because that’s what we’re going to see,” said FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin. “But because of the positioning, not everyone in the Northeast is going to see something falling from the sky. I mean, New York will likely have a beautiful day on Saturday. But coastal areas of Massachusetts and Maine, they might be close enough to get a little taste of maybe some rain.”
And there is the potential for those areas to see tropical-storm-force winds of 40 mph or greater.
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“They do have the potential here for winds,” Merwin continued. “Twenty to 40% chance of tropical-storm-force winds extend from the Cape all the way up toward coastal Maine.”
Large waves, too, will be slamming up against the shore, bringing the risk of beach erosion and coastal flooding.
Those conditions will also likely have curious residents and visitors make their way to the beach for a look at what Lee could do to the coast, but it’s advised to stay out of the water.
“My concern is looky-loos, right? I mean, I love to look at big waves,” Merwin said. “My family is going to be looking at them this weekend, too. But you have to do it in a safe way.”
As of the latest NHC advisory, Hurricane Lee is located about 575 miles south of Bermuda and is moving to the west-northwest at 7 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph, making it a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
The NHC says hurricane Lee will continue its slow west-northwest to northwest movement for the next day or so before it begins a turn to the north by the middle of the week. On that track, Lee is expected to pass near but to the west of Bermuda.
However, the NHC warned that those with interests in Bermuda should monitor Lee’s progress and watches could be required for the island nation later on Tuesday. The storm is then expected to continue north well off the mid-Atlantic and Northeast coast the rest of the week, reaching Nova Scotia Sunday morning.
Hurricane Lee is expected to begin to pick up forward speed after it makes its turn to the north, and as it does so the storm’s wind field is expected to grow in size.
The FOX Forecast Center expects Lee’s wind field to extend more than 550 miles across, which would make impacts far-reaching in New England.
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Winds could be whipping across eastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod as Lee makes its move. Provincetown, Barnstable and Harwich could all see gusts between 60-70 mph, while Eastham could see winds whip to between 70-80 mph.
“Lee is going to start to undergo extratropical transition where it becomes less like a hurricane and more like a nor’easter, which folks up in New England are familiar with in the colder time of the year,” National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan told FOX Weather on Monday. “So, those can be impactful storms, too. Just because it doesn’t look like a classic hurricane – nothing that gets up into this latitude is going to look like a classic hurricane. It’s going to be fast-moving, and it’s going to have hazards extending hundreds of miles from the center, regardless of the track of the center.”
People living in New England still have a few days to prepare for any potential impacts Lee will have on the region, but time is running out.
And while potential impacts could be seen in all parts of New England, residents along the Massachusetts coast as well as those who live in Maine should pay attention to Lee’s progress and get a plan of action ready to go.