PLAN AND PREPARE

On Thursday, the National Hurricane Center issued tropical storm warnings ahead of a large coastal storm coming together off the southeast U.S. coast.

It may or may not garner a name, but the coastal storm developing off the southeast U.S. today (now designated Invest 99L by the National Hurricane Center) will bring tropical storm conditions to a wide stretch of shoreline from Myrtle Beach northward through the Outer Banks and into the Virginia Tidewater starting tomorrow into Saturday.

A coastal low forecast to develop north of the Bahamas by Thursday into Friday may try to take on some tropical characteristics as it brings gusty winds, rough seas and the possibility of coastal flooding from northeast Florida through the Carolinas by the weekend.

A coastal low forecast to develop north of the Bahamas by Thursday into Friday may try to take on some tropical characteristics as it brings gusty winds, rough seas and the possibility of coastal flooding from northeast Florida through the Carolinas by the weekend.

As we frequently discuss in this newsletter, hurricane season activity is misaligned with the calendar. While the calendar says we’re halfway through the 6-month hurricane season on September 1st, history tells us we still have another 70% of storm activity left at the start of September.

A rapidly intensifying storm in the Atlantic has developed into a hurricane.

Hurricane Lee – the storm which grew from a tropical wave we first mentioned in this newsletter back on August 31st before it had even emerged off Africa or garnered a yellow circle from NHC – will this weekend end its over 5,000-mile Atlantic journey spanning over 10 days.

Tropical storm watches are in effect for coastal Massachusetts and Rhode Island in anticipation of strong winds above 38 mph on Lee’s western side.

It’s not every day a hurricane comes close enough to New England to cause direct impacts, but those that have – notorious names like Bob (1991) and Gloria (1985) or Carol (1954) and Edna (1954) – still live on in New England lore.

The outer bands of Hurricane Lee are starting to lash Bermuda as big surf pounded the island, with the Category 2 storm expected to make landfall on the coast of New England or Atlantic Canada over the weekend.

While Hurricane Lee didn’t strengthen on Monday, it still managed to up the ante – doubling in size by one measure while maintaining its peak winds. All else equal, the developments increase the hurricane’s destructive potential and ability to generate long-period waves and dangerous marine conditions that will affect the entire Eastern Seaboard this week.

It’s been a soap opera for Hurricane Lee. After rapidly strengthening to a Category 5 Thursday night at an historic pace – a blistering 85 mph increase in maximum winds in 24 hours (tied for the third fastest-strengthening Atlantic hurricane) – Lee hit a wall over the weekend, rapidly weakening back down to a Category 2 by Saturday evening.

Category 5 Hurricane Lee -- the most intense of the 2023 Atlantic basin hurricane season so far -- is powering forward, moving west-northwestward on a track that keeps it away from the Caribbean islands.

A windsurfer who went missing off Florida’s Space Coast the day that Hurricane Idalia made landfall last week has been declared the state’s second death from the Category 3 storm, officials said Wednesday.

After quickly strengthening into a hurricane yesterday, Lee leveled off overnight but strengthening is expected to resume today, perhaps at a rapid clip.

Hurricane Lee is charging through warm Atlantic waters and threatening to unleash heavy swells across the northeast Caribbean.