Hurricane Lee to bring dangerous rip currents to Maryland beaches
BALTIMORE-- Confidence is high that Hurricane Lee will not directly impact Maryland, but our beaches will see rough and dangerous surf.
Hurricane Lee is quickly regaining strength in the Atlantic after a brief weakening trend.
As of 5 p.m. Sunday, the storm had reobtained Category 3 strength and showed signs of further strengthening based on its satellite presentation.
Lee felt the impacts of wind shear over the past couple of days, causing the storm to temporarily weaken to a Category 2.
All of our forecast computer models strongly agree and keep Lee safely offshore. This outcome gives our weather team high confidence the storm will not pose any direct landfall threat to Maryland and/or Delaware.
While Lee will be weakening as it moves to our east, the wind field will be expanding in size as the storm becomes larger.
The hurricane will transition into a nor'easter-like storm by late this week or next weekend as it moves across colder ocean waters.
This will mean the wind intensity will continue to weaken, but the wind field will expand. Tropical storm force winds and rain bands may expand outward several hundred miles from the storm's center.
Despite an even larger storm in size, we're still confident its direct impacts stay to our east.
Here's why: A piece of energy, in the upper levels of the atmosphere, pivoting over us Friday will help nudge Lee to our east.
The timing and potency of this piece of energy are important since Lee will directly respond to these factors.
Right now, these two players are more important for eastern New England and Canada as Lee tracks closer to their shorelines.
Our Atlantic Ocean beaches in Maryland and Delaware will still take a sizable hit from some of the indirect impacts of Lee.
Since the storm will become so massive in size, it will generate large swells and waves that travel far away from its center. These larger swells are expected to arrive as early as Tuesday along our Maryland and Delaware beaches. Wave heights ranging from 6 to 8 feet are possible by late this week into next weekend.
The increasing wave heights and larger swells will generate dangerous rip currents along our Atlantic Ocean beaches. Their arrival looks as early as Tuesday.
Since Lee will be tracking parallel to our shoreline this week, rip currents and large waves will be a major concern into next weekend. Swimming is not advised during this time and you should only visit beaches with lifeguards on duty.
While Lee currently does not pose a direct landfall threat to us, it's still a good idea to routinely check the forecast this week.
Since Lee will become such a large storm in size, it does have the potential to directly impact parts of eastern New England and Canada.
Any possible direct impacts would likely be felt late this week or by next weekend.
