Hurricane Lee continued churning over the Atlantic Ocean early Friday, barreling toward the northeast Caribbean islands as a “dangerous” Category 5 storm — but no longer expected to wallop New York.
The first Category 5 hurricane of the Atlantic season was located early Friday about 550 miles from the Lesser Antilles, with ferocious winds of up to 165 mph.
“Lee continues to strengthen at an exceptional rate,” the National Hurricane Center warned.
Life-threatening surf was expected to impact the group of Caribbean islands later Friday and reach the British and US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, the Bahamas, and Bermuda over the weekend.
The storm’s winds could increase even further in the coming days, whipping up big waves and causing erosion on the northern beaches of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, Fox Weather meteorologist Brian Mastro told The Post early Friday.
“We will see waves between 10 and 15 feet, so we don’t want anyone on the beaches,” said Ernesto Morales, with the National Weather Service in San Juan.
Lee was expected to pass well to the north of all the Caribbean islands and was unlikely to make landfall anywhere in the US, Mastro said. He noted that the only place that could potentially have a big impact from the storm is Nova Scotia in Atlantic Canada, but not until next weekend.
Lee is the 12th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 and peaks in September.
“It’s definitely the strongest one so far of this season,” Mastro said of the hurricane. “Last year we had one Category 4 [storm], and that’s Ian. So it’s a very strong storm.”
Dangerous surf and rip currents were forecasted for most of the East Coast starting Sunday, but — contrary to some earlier forecast models — landfall in New York City reminiscent of the deadly Superstorm Sandy was “very unlikely,” Mastro said.
Lee was expected to “slow down considerably” by the time it reached the region, the National Hurricane Center also said.
“In all likelihood, the only impact we’ll see here is increased surf, and beach erosion in the middle of next week,” the Fox Weather forecaster said of the Big Apple and surrounding area.
President Biden was on Thursday given the hurricane’s latest trajectory and details of preparations underway by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency, which deployed unidentified assets to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, according to the White House.
Tropical Storm Margot, meanwhile, became the 13th named storm after forming Thursday evening. It was located some 290 miles west-northwest of the Cabo Verde Islands. It had winds of up to 40 mph and was forecast to strengthen into a hurricane this weekend.
It was moving west-northwest at 17 mph and is expected to linger over open water.
The National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration in August forecasted between 14 to 21 named storms this season, with six to 11 of them expected to become hurricanes, and of those, two to five possibly developing into major hurricanes.
With Post wires
