Hurricane Lee: Projected path, maps and hurricane tracker

(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Lee, now churning in the Atlantic, is forecast to quickly intensify to an extremely dangerous major hurricane.

Lee, which strengthened from a tropical storm to a hurricane on Wednesday, will likely become a major hurricane by Friday and a Category 4 hurricane with winds up to 150 mph by Saturday.

Lee is currently 1,200 miles east of the Leeward Islands.

Lee is currently expected to move north of the Caribbean Islands over the weekend, sparing the islands any direct impacts other than rough surf and rip currents.

By next week, the spaghetti models show Lee turning north before reaching Turks and Caicos. Bermuda may be in Lee’s path.

Long-range models can change over the next week, but they currently show Lee moving parallel to the East Coast. If Lee stays on that course, the East Coast wouldn’t see direct impacts, but would be hit with large surf and rip currents by late next week.