Tracking Lee: Tropical Storm Warning For Southeast Massachusetts Saturday

(WPRI) — A Tropical Storm Warning and a Storm Surge Watch have also been issued for Southeastern Massachusetts/Cape

Weather impacts continue into Saturday morning.

Lee is currently a Category 1 storm with sustained winds of 80 mph, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

A direct hit from a landfalling hurricane is not expected for our area, but will see stong wind gusts, especially for southeast coastal Mass.

11:00PM Friday UPDATE HURRICANE LEE

SUMMARY OF 1100 PM
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LOCATION...39.5N 65.8W
ABOUT 370 MI...595 KM SSW OF HALIFAX NOVA SCOTIA
ABOUT 250 MI...405 KM ESE OF NANTUCKET MASSACHUSETTS
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...80 MPH
PRESENT MOVEMENT...NNE OR 15 DEGREES AT 20 MPH
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...965 MB.

At 1100 PM, the center of Hurricane Lee was located
near latitude 39.5 North, longitude 65.8 West. Lee has been moving 
toward the north-northeast near 20 mph over the past few 
hours. A north to north-northwest motion is forecast to resume 
later tonight, and this motion at a faster forward speed is expected
through Saturday. On the forecast track, the center of Lee will
continue to approach the coast of New England and Atlantic Canada
through Saturday. Lee is then expected to turn toward the
north-northeast and northeast and move across Atlantic Canada
Saturday night and Sunday.

Lee is a very large and dangerous storm. Maximum sustained winds,
based on Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft data, are near 80 mph
 with higher gusts. Some gradual weakening is forecast,
with Lee expected to become extra-tropical on Saturday.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 115 miles from
the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 345
miles (555 km). NOAA Buoy 44011 located about 205 miles
north of the center has recently reported a peak one-minute
sustained wind of 47 mph and a gust of 67 mph

The storm is moving northward and is expected to continue to weaken as it passes well offshore of Southern New England, moving over cooler waters.

WHAT TO EXPECT

LATEST BOUY REPORTS

Wave heights continue to increase offshore

The latest update from the NHC has Lee passing about 175 miles east of Cape Cod, but since the storm is so large and wide, we will get grazed with some showers and gusty wind into early Saturday morning. The worst weather will be confined to east coastal Mass. and the Cape and Islands.

POTENTIAL WIND GUSTS

A landfall is still expected in either northeastern Maine or Nova Scotia.

Winds could be gusting to 30-50 mph in our area but gusts to 60+ mph are possible on the outer Cape and Nantucket.

With such saturated ground due to all the rain over the last several days, these winds could topple some trees, and scattered power outages are “possible” into Saturday morning. Power outage risk will be higher for Cape Cod