Hurricane Lee Lurks In The Atlantic

Hurricane Lee reached the epitome of tropical cyclone royalty late Thursday — a brutal and beautiful, remorseless and uncontainable Category 5 with winds expected to remain at major-hurricane strength for at least the next five days.

The Palm Beach Post reports the National Hurricane Center dropped Lee’s intensity to a Cat 4 early Friday, noting that it may fluctuate over the coming days, as super hurricanes are capricious in nature.

By the grace of an invisible dip of frigid winds from Canada, South Florida has been promised amnesty from Lee’s pure wrath.

The storm, which has defied even the most extreme wind speed expectations, is predicted to zip around the western edge of the Bermuda High with a boost from the diving jet stream over the U.S. Working together, the two forces will help steer Lee away from the Sunshine State beginning in the middle of next week.

The peak of hurricane season lasts from about mid-August through mid-October with Sunday, Sept. 10, as the pinnacle.

That put Lee in the right spot for ripening, although as the third major hurricane of Category 3 or higher this season, it is 51 days ahead of climatology, said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine Atmospheric and Earth Sciences.

Over those record-warm waters in the main runway between Africa and the Caribbean, Lee was able to strengthen by a remarkable 80 mph in just 24 hours.

On Wednesday at 11 p.m., it was a Category 1, 80 mph hurricane. By Thursday at 11 p.m., it was a Category 5 storm with 160 mph winds. By 8 a.m. Friday, sustained winds were up to 165 mph.

As of 5 p.m. Friday, Lee was about 500 miles east of the Northern Leeward Islands with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. It was moving west-northwest at 13 mph. Its wind speeds are forecast to remain at Category 4 intensity through Wednesday.

Bryan Norcross, the hurricane specialist for Fox Weather, said Lee’s feverish increase to a Cat 5 also reminded him of 1992’s Hurricane Andrew.

“We weren’t expecting that super intensification Thursday,” Norcross said about Lee. “It wasn’t supposed to happen until the weekend.”

The most intense storms can also be unpredictable. Eyewall replacement cycles — where a storm’s contracting eyewall is overtaken by an outer ring of thunderstorms — can temporarily weaken a hurricane.