The Canadian Hurricane Centre says Hurricane Lee is now on its anticipated northward course toward Canada’s Maritime provinces and the state of Maine.
As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, the storm was about 675 kilometres south-southwest of Bermuda, moving north-northwest at around 25 km/h, with maximum sustained winds of 175 km/h.
“This hurricane is quite large and is expected to grow in size as it approaches,” the centre said in an update Wednesday afternoon.
However, it added that the storm’s intensity — based on peak winds — will decrease, and is expected to be just below hurricane status when it passes west of Yarmouth, on Nova Scotia’s southwestern tip, Saturday afternoon.
The centre described the arrival of Lee as “a Saturday event for the strongest impacts, with lingering, weaker conditions on Sunday.”
Lee is expected to approach as a Category 1 hurricane, becoming a post-tropical storm at landfall in eastern Maine or southern New Brunswick.
Get breaking National news
“This timing and location will likely change over the next 3 days but that is the official most likely scenario at this stage,” the 3 p.m. update said.
“The centre of Lee could make landfall anywhere from Downeast Maine to western Nova Scotia as a strong tropical storm or post-tropical low.”
A tropical cyclone information statement has been issued across all three Maritime provinces and parts of Quebec, warning that the intense system is likely to bring heavy rain and wind in the days ahead.
“Our latest assessment is that western Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick stand to see the most wind while western New Brunswick northward into parts of the Bas-St-Laurent and Gaspesie regions of Quebec are at risk of the heaviest rainfall,” it said.
“High waves and elevated water levels will be more widespread due to the large size of the storm – the most impacted areas likely covering much of the Atlantic coast of mainland Nova Scotia and the Fundy coast of New Brunswick.”
Rain before the storm
The Canadian Hurricane Centre’s statement noted that in addition to Lee, the Maritime provinces may experience bands of downpours from southwest to northeast.
“These bands are notoriously difficult to predict but it is important to understand there is a flooding risk with these bands well before the arrival of Lee,” the statement said.
“These complex effects are indirectly related to the hurricane. Additional rainfall from Lee itself could exacerbate the risk of flooding.”
A previous update from the forecaster said with the expanding size of the hurricane and a long northward trajectory, building surf conditions and rip currents are expected along Nova Scotia’s Atlantic Coast in the coming days, especially Friday.
Lee is the 12th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 and peaked on Sunday.
The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration in August forecast between 14 and 21 named storms this season. Six to 11 of them are expected to become hurricanes, and of those, two to five might develop into major hurricanes.
— with files from The Canadian Press
Comments