TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Tropical Storm Lee is approaching hurricane strength and is expected to rapidly intensify to an “extremely dangerous” hurricane by this weekend, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
Lee, which formed Tuesday evening, is located about 1,200 miles east-southeast of the Northern Leeward Islands. The storm has maximum sustained winds of 70 mph and is moving at about 14 mph.
Lee is expected to become a hurricane sometime Wednesday. By the weekend, the NHC said the storm will likely be a major hurricane.
“The current forecast takes the system just north of the Caribbean Islands, but when the storm makes the turn to the north will determine if anywhere in the U.S. will feel impacts,” WFLA meteorologist Leigh Spann said.
Current projections show it not making landfall but passing just northeast of the British Virgin Islands, which is still recovering from hurricanes Maria and Irma in September 2017.
Lee is the 12th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.
In August, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration updated its forecast and warned that this year’s hurricane season would be above normal. Between 14 and 21 named storms are forecast. Of those, six to 11 could become hurricanes, with two to five of them possibly becoming major hurricanes.
In the Pacific, Tropical Storm Jova continued strengthening well off the southwest coast of Mexico but posed no threat to land. Jova had 70 mph winds and was forecast to become a hurricane Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was about 675 miles south of the southern tip of Baja California and moving west-northwest at 9 mph.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.