When and where to expect impacts in New England, Maine
Hurricane Lee’s outer rain bands approach New England
Lee remains a Category 1 hurricane with winds of 80 mph. It will approach the coast of New England and Atlantic Canada through Saturday, according to the latest warning from the National Hurricane Center. September 15, 2023.
Post Tropical Cyclone Lee The former hurricane is bringing tropical storm-force winds and dangerous beach conditions to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine and New England on Saturday as the former hurricane makes its journey from the Atlantic Ocean into western Canadian offshore areas.
Although Lee is not expected to make landfall in the United States — instead heading east to Nova Scotia and/or New Brunswick — the wind field is hundreds of miles wide, and New Englanders will experience areas of damaging wind gusts and coastal flooding.
“This is not ‘pack up and get out,'” said Britta Merwin, a meteorologist with FOX Weather. “This is ‘hunker down and prepare to lose power.’ “We’re going to have really bad conditions on Saturday, and then on Sunday we’ll wake up to a whole new day.”
Hurricane Lee’s Live Tracker: Satellites, Projected Path, Computer Spaghetti Models, and the Cone of Concern
With parts of New England within Lee’s impact zone, here’s a closer look at when the region can expect to feel the biggest impacts from Lee in the coming days, starting on Friday.
Winds increase until Saturday morning on Cape Cod
Tropical storm surges are moving across Cape Cod Saturday morning and winds are expected to increase through Saturday afternoon.
Strong winds arrive in Maine just after dawn Saturday, with the strongest winds in Downeast Maine. There, tropical storm-force winds will continue into late Saturday evening, with gusty winds continuing across eastern Maine into Sunday morning.
Dangerous waves and beach conditions
Surf conditions are improving in the Mid-Atlantic and Carolinas with Lee moving farther Saturday after reaching 8-13 feet.
In New York City and Long Island, waves will continue to reach 7 to 12 feet until late Saturday evening.
Farther north into New England, seas on the Atlantic side of Cape Cod will rise to 16-21 feet on Saturday.
“Ocean beaches will experience dangerous rip currents and significant beach erosion over the weekend,” the National Weather Service in Boston wrote. “Watching the waves from piers, piers or near shore would be very dangerous.” Seas will calm there Saturday night.
Seas along Maine are expected to reach 28 feet in open waters off the southern Maine coast, and 10 to 18 feet along the coast of Downeast Maine.
Heavy rains will begin early Saturday
Rain will begin in eastern New England on Saturday morning. As Lee quickly moves northward, heavy rain is not expected across much of New England, although areas of Downeast Maine near the center of the storm could receive 2-5 inches by Saturday night.
Rain will gradually decrease from south to north Saturday evening, but may continue in Downeast Maine until Sunday morning.
Active storm watches from lee
Tropical Storm Warnings are in effect for much of coastal New England, extending from the Massachusetts/Rhode Island border north into Canada, covering most of the interior of central and eastern Maine, as well as much of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Hurricane watches have now been moved to Canada to cover parts of coastal New Brunswick and the western and southern shores of Nova Scotia including Halifax and Yarmouth.
