Hurricane Lee becomes ‘extremely dangerous’ Category 5 storm: Latest models and forecasts

Current forecasts indicate that Hurricane Lee is not expected to make landfall in the coming days – but that does not rule out “life-threatening” impacts.

The storm is expected to pass north of the Northern Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico over the weekend and into early next week.

However, it is “too early” to know what level of impacts, if any, Lee may have along the U.S. East Coast, Atlantic Canada or Bermuda, late next week, according to the National Weather Service.

The hurricane is not expected to make landfall, but meteorologists have warned that it will generate dangerous waves up to 15 feet (5 meters) high across Puerto Rico’s northern coast and other nearby islands starting today.

While Lee is on a path that could take a few hundred miles northeast of the Caribbean Sea, tropical storm conditions are not expected in the area.

“Although the hurricane is incredibly strong, its wind field is not particularly large,” the National Hurricane Center said. News agency

Just a week ago, the southern United States was dealing with the last major storm to roll off the ocean, and its residents were experiencing the same fears and making the same last-ditch preparations that many Caribbean islanders are now making.

Hurricane Idalia swept through Cuba, northern Florida, Georgia, and North and South Carolina before striking itself over the Atlantic Ocean, and photos posted on social media by people living in those states provide a fresh reminder, if any were needed, of the hurricane’s devastating impact. The climate crisis in action.

As the climate crisis continues to produce more and more extreme weather events and intensifies North America’s hurricane season, scientists are looking for new ways to gather information from the natural world to provide advanced warning of incoming storms and avert disasters — and some believe sharks might be able to do just that. Play a major role.

Currently, meteorologists focus on… Terra firma The path of a hurricane can be predicted up to five days in advance using expensive satellite technology and atmospheric equipment.

But by closely monitoring the behavior of sharks, which can sense shifts in atmospheric pressure that signal an approaching storm through the pores in their noses, even from up to 100 miles away, this notice period could potentially be extended to as much as 100. Mile. Two weeks ago, according to researchers.

Hurricane Lee was declared a “strong” Category 5 storm on Friday and is expected to maintain intensity as it moves across the Caribbean under “life-threatening” conditions.

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its 5 a.m. warning that the system will bring “dangerous beach conditions” to the Caribbean islands today, then dangerous waves and rip currents along much of the US East Coast starting Sunday.

Lee is located 630 miles (1,015 km) east of the northern Leeward Islands with sustained winds of 165 mph (270 km/h).

Fluctuations in intensity are possible over the next few days, but Lee is expected to remain a major hurricane through early next week, the NHC said.

The storm is not expected to make landfall and pass well north of the northern Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico over the weekend and into early next week.

Weather Twitter is (as usual) full of exciting GIFs of Hurricane Lee’s expected progress this morning, as well as the usual deluge of disturbing but irrelevant flooding footage from around the world and past storm events.

But Lee appears to be a powerful beast indeed and warnings about him should be taken seriously once he appears to be making landfall.

Hurricane Lee has been called “one of the fastest” if not the fastest growing storms ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean, moving from Category 1 on Thursday morning to Category 5 by the end of the day.

The storm is expected to intensify, with wind speeds reaching 180 mph by Friday morning.

Here’s how the rapid ramp-up played out for me:

• Lee was a Category 1 storm with winds of 80 mph at 5 a.m. ET Thursday. Within 12 hours, its maximum sustained winds increased to 130 mph, making it a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale.
• As of 11 PM ET, the storm had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph, making it now a Category 5 hurricane.
• The storm’s maximum sustained winds increased by just over 80 mph in 24 hours, according to the National Hurricane Center. The escalation significantly exceeds the 35 mph increase needed to fit the definition of rapid intensification.

The United Nations World Meteorological Organization announced the return of the El Nino weather cycle, which could lead to record global temperatures this year.

After three years of cooler La Niña events, which often lead to slightly lower global temperatures, the World Meteorological Organization announced on Tuesday that El Niño conditions exist and are expected to gradually intensify in the winter.

The last significant El Niño event occurred in 2016, which became the warmest year the world has seen since records began.

A repeat in 2023, when the pace of global warming accelerated by man-made carbon emissions, threatens a “double whammy”, according to the Meteorological Organization, which has warned that there is a 90 per cent chance of it continuing through the end of the year.

This means that the potential for potentially life-threatening extreme weather events has also increased, prompting WMO officials to warn governments around the world to prepare.

As the global average temperature rises, largely due to carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels, the oceans are taking a hit.

The oceans have absorbed 90% of the warming in recent decades, and all that extra heat is driving water temperatures to historic levels.

Warmer waters increase tropical cyclones with more heavy rain and storm surges as they come ashore. While the frequency of tropical storm cyclones is not increasing, the probability of them becoming stronger and more destructive has increased by about 8 percent per decade globally. the past 40 years, according to climatologists.

The proportion of category 4 and 5 tropical cyclones worldwide is expected to increase in the coming decades due to human-caused global warming, according to the latest report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, is expected to be above average this year.