Lee moved north of Puerto Rico on Tuesday as a Category 3 hurricane emerged, and forecasters said it will remain in open waters this week as it heads toward Atlantic Canada.
The meteor was located 925 kilometers (575 miles) south of Bermuda with winds of up to 185 km/h (115 mph) and was moving west-northwest at a speed of 11 km/h (7 mph).
It is expected to have weakened to a tropical storm by Sunday and could make landfall in Nova Scotia, Canada, according to AccuWeather.
“Significant storm surge will occur along with strong winds and the risk of property damage,” AccuWeather said in a statement.
Winds and flooding are also expected in Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts, southeastern New Hampshire and central and coastal Maine, forecasters said.
The storm could begin turning northward on Tuesday afternoon and pass just west of Bermuda on Thursday evening, and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) warned that tropical storm conditions could occur on the island.
Lee is expected to weaken in the coming days as it reaches colder waters.
The hurricane produced rip currents and dangerous surf in the Lesser Antilles, the British and U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Bahamas, Bermuda, and part of the southeastern U.S. coast. These conditions are expected to soon extend to the East Coast of the United States.
“It is too early to know what extent of additional impacts Lee could cause later this week and over the weekend along the East Coast of the United States and the Atlantic Coast of Canada,” the NHC said.
Lee is the 12th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30 and peaked on Sunday.
On the other hand, Margot became the fifth named hurricane of the season on Monday. It was about 1,505 kilometers (935 miles) off the southwest coast of the Azores. Maximum sustained winds were 140 km/h (85 mph), moving north at 20 km/h (13 mph). A landing is not expected.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts there will be between 14 and 21 named storms, with between 6 and 11 becoming hurricanes. It is estimated that two to five of these will become major Category 3, 4 or 5 hurricanes.
