Stormchaser video taken inside the eye of monstrous Hurricane Lee shows the powerful storm as it generated flashes of light and whipped up 165 mph winds earlier this week.
The Air Force Reserve’s 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, also known as the “Hurricane Hunters,” flew Thursday from St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, right into the eye of the beast as it intensified quickly from a Category 1 to a Category 5 hurricane.
It had fallen back to a Category 3 storm early Saturday, but is expected to regain strength over the weekend.
But as millions of people on the East Coast watch the massive storm move northwest, forecasters said it was too early to know if or where Lee would make landfall.
“It will eventually begin to strengthen into probably a Category 4 storm under the current Hurricane Center forecast,” Fox Weather meteorologist Christopher Tate told the Post.
But there is good news, Tate said. “That return to Category 4 strength will be relatively brief because as it begins its northward turn, it will begin to weaken as it encounters colder waters.”
Hurricane Lee is expected to regain strength over the weekend, forecasters say. Twitter/@53rdWRS
The storm is expected to move north over the weekend and early next week. Its trajectory on the East Coast and its impacts remain uncertain. Twitter/@53rdWRS
The storm was in the Caribbean early Saturday and was moving north and west at about 12 miles per hour.
It is expected to begin affecting Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahamas and Bermuda on Sunday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The huge, volatile storm is moving across the Atlantic and is expected to generate strong waves in the New York and New Jersey area for at least the next week.
Strong rip currents, high waves and coastal erosion can be expected on the east coast due to the storm. Twitter/@53rdWRS
One of the reasons it is difficult to predict when it will reach the coast is that it is expected to slow down as it reaches colder waters.
Many questions about the storm’s path also remain unanswered, although it is not expected to make landfall in the US at this time.
Tate said: “One thing we know for sure: Any time there is a hurricane of this strength, you will see strong rip currents, higher waves and beach erosion, probably almost anywhere on the East Coast, especially north of Charleston. , South Carolina cleans up to the Canadian Maritimes.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn