Hurricane Lee update today: Storm strengthens to hurricane and is expected to become ‘extremely dangerous’

Hurricane Lee was located about 1,130 miles (1,815km) east of the northern Leeward Islands late on Wednesday, according to the latest NHC update.

It had maximum sustained winds of 75mph (120 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 14mph (22kph).

The storm is expected to become a “major hurricane” by Friday, the NHC said, as the storm intensifies at a “steady to rapid” pace. It may become a Category 4 hurricane – a potentially “catastrophic” storm with sustained wind speeds of 130-156 mph – as it travels over very warm water.

Lee, which intensified into a hurricane on Wednesday evening, is likely to become a Category 5 “extremely dangerous” hurricane by Friday, a day earlier than previously anticipated, the latest update from National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The Miami-based centre warned that the large ocean swells will likely reach the Lesser Antilles, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico by the weekend.

Tropical Storm Lee was captured from space on Wednesday.

The vast system was seen moving through the Caribbean in imagery shared by the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) at Colorado State University. Lee was expected to gain hurricane status on Wednesday.

Earth experienced hottest summer on record in 2023, UN says

The sweltering summer of 2023 has been officially confirmed as the hottest summer on record for the northern hemisphere by the United Nations.

This August was found to be about 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than pre-industrial times, scientists from the UN agency, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), and the European climate service, Copernicus, announced on Wednesday.

The record-breaking August is also the second hottest month ever after this July, WMO said.

August marked the end of a brutal summer in the northern hemisphere with land and ocean heat records shattered across continents; extreme heatwaves and deadly wildfires.

Hotter ocean temperatures are also fuelling stronger hurricanes in the Atlantic, scientists say.

Spaghetti models get their name from how they look – a jumble of squiggly lines.

In fact, what looks like hurried drawings are actually computer models tracking the potential paths of a tropical storm or hurricane.

The more that the “spaghetti strands” lie close together or overlap, means the greater the confidence in the forecast. Further apart lines indicate more uncertainty.

Tropical Storm Lee is the 12th named storm to form in the Atlantic Ocean in 2023.

The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from 1 June to 30 November, is forecast to be above average this year. Late August and early September are typically the season’s peak.

Tropical Storm Lee “could bring impacts to the Leeward Islands”, the National Hurricane Center has warned, urging residents to keep an eye on updates.

“It is becoming a question of when and not if rapid intensification occurs with Lee,” the advisory noted. Winds are forecast to reach 145 mph which is a powerful Category 4 “major hurricane.”

‘While it is too soon to determine the location and magnitude of these possible impacts, interests in this area should monitor the progress of the depression and updates to the forecast,” the NHC said.

The long-legged wading birds have been sighted in Ohio, Kentucky, the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee and Texas in recent days, according to Audubon Florida, a conservation nonprofit tracking their movements.

Flamingos are also cropping up in parts of Florida where they are rarely seen like the north central Alachua County and Collier County on the southern Gulf Coast.

Audubon Florida’s state director for research Jerry Lorenz told CNN the distinctive pink birds may have been flying from Cuba to the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico when they were blown off course by Idalia.

“We have never seen anything like this,” Mr Lorenz said, adding that fresh sightings were continuing to pour in.