- Powerful rip tides and waves up to 10ft could strike by Sunday
- Hurricane Lee, which may not make landfall, is sending huge tides west
- The eye of the terrifying twister was caught in breathtaking military footage
Hurricane Lee is set to send huge rip tides across the East Coast as soon as this weekend, even as meteorologists are still unsure if the eye of the storm will make landfall.
Severe surges could generate waves up to 10 feet tall crashing into the eastern seaboard on Sunday, risking flash flooding and structural damage.
The storm system alarmed forecasters after it escalated from a Category 1 to Category 5 hurricane overnight Thursday, as its wind speeds soared from 80mph to over 160mph in a matter of hours.
It has since been downgraded to a Cat 2 storm, although forecasters say it could strengthen again.
As of Saturday evening, the twister was whipping through the Atlantic at 105mph around 285 miles northeast of the Leeward Island in the Caribbean, and is moving west at 10mph, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
The weather service warned that Lee is ‘expected to grow in size over the next few days’, and although its path is uncertain is is forecast to cause ‘hazardous beach conditions’ for areas in its path.
Hurricane Lee has been fighting against wind shear as it passes over the Leeward Islands, which has reduced its speed and relegated it to a Category 2.
But the NHC warnings that it is set to strengthen over the weekend could see dangerous conditions by Sunday, which may deteriorate further into next week.
Meteorologists have struggled to nail down the storm’s path since it formed as a Category 1 hurricane on Wednesday, leading to varying predictions over the damage it could cause.
Computer generated models in recent days have shown the storm potentially slamming into major cities including New York City and Boston, while it also has the potential to turn back to the Atlantic.
Similarly comforting models have been tragically wrong in the past, however. In 2017, meteorologists predicted Hurricane Irma would turn towards the ocean, before it battered Florida’s Gulf Coast and led to at least 92 deaths.
Even if Lee never makes it to the US, the spiral over the Atlantic is set to send rip currents and large waves to huge swaths of the coastline by Sunday.
The National Hurricane Center warned that the dangerous surf conditions could intensify through the week – with any potential landfall coming near the weekend.
While east coast residents brace for impact, the Caribbean islands have offered a glimpse at what is to come as heavy swells battered the northeast of the region on Saturday evening.
With Hurricane Lee churning in the waters to the north, coastlines from the British Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico were on high alert Saturday evening as waves up to 15 feet were possible.
The development led Puerto Rico authorities to warn people to stay out of the water, with Capt. José Díaz of the nation’s Coast Guard sector saying: ‘We are concerned about people and boaters who may underestimate the impacts of this passing storm.’
‘The increase in projected sea states of 10 to 15 feet severely reduces our ability to respond to a maritime distress with the full use of our resources.’
The eye of the hurricane was captured in breathtaking footage by the US Air Force, and meteorologists tracked waves near its center as high as 50 feet.
Meteorologists have seemingly gone back and forth over whether the hurricane will slam into the East Coast or potentially turn. On Wednesday, the NHC warned: ‘Most of the intensity models are very aggressive, bringing Lee to major hurricane status by the weekend.’
In a forecast discussion on Friday, the center flip-flopped on this prediction, admitting that ‘it is way too soon to know what level of impacts, if any, Lee might have along the US East Coast, Atlantic Canada, or Bermuda late next week’.
The forecaster added that this may come as ‘the hurricane is expected to slow down considerably over the southwestern Atlantic.’
Forecasters have continuously said the storm is reshaping and restructuring, a process that saved many Florida residents last month when Hurricane Idalia struck Florida’s Gulf Coast.
Although the hurricane brought significant damage and led to at least two deaths, experts cautioned that the damage could have been far worse.
When Floridians were fearing the twister could strike the state capital of Tallahassee, the hurricane turned and slowed thanks to a natural phenomenon where the wall around the eye of the hurricane is ‘replaced’ as the system restructures.
The natural process that potentially saved lives is known among meteorologists as an ‘eyewall replacement cycle’, and are a common part of the makeup of a hurricane before they make landfall.
As storms become more powerful, the eye of the storm narrows and becomes tighter while it speeds up. When it reaches its peak velocity, a new eyewall can form around the epicenter.
‘Like a figure skater pulling in her arms versus holding her arms out, the hurricane spins with a lot more energy, power, and ferocity when it has a tighter eye,’ said Ryan Maue, a meteorologist and former chief scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
When this occurs, the eye of the storm loses momentum, which occurred Wednesday morning as Idalia was relegated to a Category 3 hurricane.
While an ‘eyewall replacement cycle’ reduces the potency of a storm, it also increases its scope as the epicenter spreads out while gusts slow down. If this process has enough time, the storm can become far more powerful than before as wind speeds are able to pick back up.
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