Hurricane Lee – Live: The storm is rapidly strengthening as it heads toward the Caribbean islands

Hurricane Lee was captured by a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite on Thursday as it spun toward the Leeward Islands.

Hurricane Lee is shaping up to become an extremely dangerous hurricane, meteorologists warned Thursday.

“It has the potential to become a powerful Category 5 hurricane, the strongest hurricane of the year,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said.

It is expected to develop into an “extremely dangerous” major hurricane by early Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center, which noted that the storm was moving over very warm waters and in a wet environment.

Big waves are likely to reach parts of the Lesser Antilles on Friday, according to meteorological forecasts.

The Lesser Antilles are a long arc of small islands in the Caribbean Sea extending from the British and US Virgin Islands to Grenada.

Hurricane Lee rapidly strengthened on Thursday as it moved toward the Caribbean islands, with “life-threatening” conditions expected to develop in the coming days.

Hurricane Lee is located about 965 miles (1,555 kilometers) east of the northern Leeward Islands, according to a 5 a.m. (ET) report from the National Hurricane Center (NHC) with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph).

“Rapid intensification is expected to begin later today, and Lee is expected to become a major hurricane by early Friday,” the NHC reported.

Current forecasts are that Hurricane Lee will not make landfall but will pass north of the British Virgin Islands, which are still recovering from Hurricanes Maria and Irma in September 2017.

Record high ocean temperatures and a late El Nino phenomenon double the chances of a bad hurricane season in the Atlantic this summer and fall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last month.

Because the Atlantic hurricane season is well above normal so far, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has increased the number of storms expected and how busy the season will be.

Previous expectations were more inclined towards a season close to normal at 40%, but the chance of a normal season has now reduced to 25%. ap

The hot summer of 2023 has been officially confirmed as the “hottest summer on record” in the Northern Hemisphere by the United Nations.

Scientists from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the European Climate Service (Copernicus) announced on Wednesday that this August was about 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than in pre-industrial times.

The World Meteorological Organization said the hottest August on record is also the second hottest month on record after July.

August marked the end of a harsh summer in the Northern Hemisphere, with land and ocean temperature records broken across the continents; Extreme heat waves and deadly forest fires.

“Summer days are not just about dogs barking, they are biting,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement. “The climate collapse has begun.”

Hurricane Lee continues to spin across open waters as it approaches the Leeward Islands, threatening to bring severe weather.

The hurricane is not yet expected to make landfall on the islands while it was on an expected path that would take it near the northeastern Caribbean Sea, although forecasters said tropical storm conditions were possible on some islands.

The storm is located about 965 miles (1,555 kilometers) from the northern Leeward Islands, according to the latest update from the National Hurricane Center this morning. Winds were reaching 80 mph (130 kph) and were moving west. – Northwest at 13 mph (20 kph).