Ingredients in place for intense storm

While its path toward the USA is not yet determined, Hurricane Lee is expected to rapidly intensify in the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean and will likely become a major storm by early on Friday (September 8), according to the National Hurricane Center.

There is increasing confidence that the center of Lee will pass to the north of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico this weekend and into early next week. While it’s too soon to know whether this system will directly impact the US mainland, but even if the hurricane stays off the coast, dangerous surf and rip currents could threaten the Eastern Seaboard.

“All the ingredients are in place for the storm to really intensify,” Jason Dunion, director of NOAA’s Hurricane Field Program, told CNN. Florida’s state climatologist David Zierden added, “To get to Category 4 or 5 intensity the environment has to be nearly perfect, which it looks like is the forecast for Lee.” – Full report