Hurricane Lee, an enormous Category 1 storm whipping strong winds across hundreds of miles, is inching closer to New England and expected to impact the region Friday evening into Saturday. <\/p>\n
Lee is so huge that its tropical-storm-force winds (between 39 and 74 mph) extend more than 300 miles from the center \u2013 well outside the National Hurricane Center\u2019s forecast cone, which indicates where the center could track. <\/p>\n
Though Lee is not expected to make landfall in New England, the storm\u2019s heavy rain could trigger isolated inland flooding, high surf could cause coastal flooding, and powerful wind gusts could knock out electricity. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to start to see those direct impacts start to move into portions of southeastern New England as early as later this afternoon, this evening, and then spread northward up into Maine overnight tonight and into Saturday,\u201d National Hurricane Center Director Michael Brennan said Friday. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe big story with Lee is just that it\u2019s a large hurricane.\u201d <\/p>\n
Shadow from Lee cirrus cloud shield is clearly visible at sunrise this morning. #mewx #nhwx pic.twitter.com\/0pwhbu7Btl<\/p>\n
\u2014 NWS Gray (@NWSGray) September 15, 2023 <\/p>\n
As of 2 p.m. ET Friday, Hurricane Lee was centered about 340 miles south-southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, the National Hurricane Center said. It was traveling north-northeast at 18 mph, whipping maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo even though the center is expected to stay offshore of the coast of southeastern New England,\u201d Brennan said, \u201cthose tropical-storm-force winds are going to move into places (in Massachusetts) like Cape Cod, Martha\u2019s Vineyard, Nantucket as we get later into today and tonight, and then spread northward along the coast of New England and up into Atlantic Canada overnight tonight and early Saturday.\u201d <\/p>\n
Lee\u2019s winds could cause power outages and isolated flooding \u2013 especially in areas where the ground is already saturated from recent rain. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s leaves still on the trees in New England. There is wet soil. So there\u2019s going to be the potential for tree damage, power outages,\u201d Brennan said. <\/p>\n
At the coast, flooding of 1 to 3 feet above ground level is possible if Lee\u2019s storm surge coincides with high tide from the Long Island Sound north through Maine, Brennan said. <\/p>\n
9\/15 11am AST: Coastal flooding accompanied by large & destructive waves from Hurricane #Lee is possible along the southern New England coast beginning this afternoon, spreading northward along the coast through Saturday. Please check https:\/\/t.co\/0BMJEzOTx0 for updates! pic.twitter.com\/S0VsJELTru<\/p>\n
\u2014 NHC Storm Surge (@NHC_Surge) September 15, 2023 <\/p>\n
Lee will \u201capproach the coast of New England and Atlantic Canada today and Saturday,\u201d the hurricane center said. \u201cLee is then expected to turn toward the north-northeast and northeast and move across Atlantic Canada Saturday night and Sunday.\u201d <\/p>\n
Along the way, Lee could deluge some communities with a combination of rain, storm surge and high tide. <\/p>\n
\u201cA dangerous storm surge will produce coastal flooding within the wind warning areas in Atlantic Canada in areas of onshore winds,\u201d the National Hurricane Center said. \u201cNear the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves.\u201d <\/p>\n
On Saturday, hurricane-strength winds (at least 74 mph) are possible from the northern coast of Maine into portions of the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. But tropical storm-force wind gusts are possible across a much larger area of New England and Atlantic Canada. <\/p>\n
In Canada, Provincial and wildlife parks in Nova Scotia are closed Friday as Lee inches closer to the area. <\/p>\n
\u201cSafety is our priority as we prepare for storm conditions forecast for the weekend,\u201d said Tory Rushton, provincial minister of natural resources and renewables. \u201cWe are closing our parks for the storm and will reopen when it is safe.\u201d <\/p>\n
Lee is expected to dump its heaviest rain \u2013 up to 6 inches \u2013 over far northern Maine on Saturday. Neighboring New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island could also see several inches. <\/p>\n
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey declared a state of emergency Friday as coastal parts of the state prepared for strong wind, heavy rain and flooding. <\/p>\n
And Maine Gov. Janet Mills declared a state of emergency Thursday, requesting federal aid in preparation for the storm\u2019s arrival. <\/p>\n\n
Hurricane Lee, an enormous Category 1 storm whipping strong winds across hundreds of miles, is inching closer to New England and expected to impact the region Friday evening into Saturday. Lee is so huge that its tropical-storm-force winds (between 39 and 74 mph) extend more than 300 miles from the center \u2013 well outside the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8606,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-8605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}