Hurricane Lee is now an “extremely dangerous” Category 5 storm as it heads toward the Caribbean – live

Experts said Lee’s rapid strength into a Category 5 hurricane on Thursday made it one of the “fastest intense Atlantic hurricanes on record,” while the National Hurricane Center warned the storm could intensify further by Friday morning.

“Hurricane Lee has explosively intensified into a Category 5 storm and is expected to peak as a 180mph Category 5 monster,” Colin McCarthy, who tracks tropical storms, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Experts have warned that if Hurricane Lee strengthens and reaches speeds of 180 mph, it will be the ninth storm in the Atlantic to reach that level.

“If that happened, it would put Lee in the elite club, with 8 other storms gusting up to 180 mph. There were 5 Atlantic hurricanes on record with stronger winds,” wrote meteorologist Jeff Berardelli.

Hurricane Lee rapidly strengthened to a Category 5 storm Thursday night as it moved toward the Caribbean islands, with “life-threatening” conditions expected in the coming days.

The National Hurricane Center said in its 11 p.m. warning that the storm could see “more strength” overnight, which could make it one of the rarest hurricanes in the Atlantic.

Hurricane Lee was located about 705 miles (1,135 km) east of the northern Leeward Islands and had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 kph).

After three years of cooler La Niña events, which often lead to slightly lower global temperatures, the World Meteorological Organization announced on Tuesday that El Niño conditions exist and are expected to gradually intensify in the winter.

The last significant El Niño event occurred in 2016, which became the warmest year the world has seen since records began.

A repeat in 2023, when the pace of global warming accelerated by man-made carbon emissions, threatens a “double whammy”, according to the Meteorological Organization, which has warned that there is a 90 per cent chance of it continuing through the end of the year.

This means that the potential for potentially life-threatening extreme weather events has also increased, prompting WMO officials to warn governments around the world to prepare.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Be warned in August This year’s season will produce a higher than usual number of storms. Between 14 and 21 named storms are expected. The agency said that between six and 11 of these areas may turn into hurricanes, and two to five of them are likely to turn into major hurricanes.

Meanwhile, AccuWeather updated its forecast, forecasting three to five Category 3 hurricanes or stronger this season, compared to one to three in its previous analysis.

Hurricane Lee was captured by NOAA satellite Thursday as it rotated toward the Leeward Islands.

As the global average temperature rises, largely due to carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels, the oceans are taking a hit.

The oceans have absorbed 90% of the warming in recent decades, and all that extra heat is driving water temperatures to historic levels.

Warmer waters increase tropical cyclones with more heavy rain and storm surges as they come ashore. While the frequency of tropical storm cyclones is not increasing, the probability of them becoming stronger and more destructive has increased by about 8 percent per decade globally. the past 40 years, according to climatologists.

The proportion of category 4 and 5 tropical cyclones worldwide is expected to increase in the coming decades due to human-caused global warming, according to the latest report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, is expected to be above average this year.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last month that record high ocean temperatures and a delayed El Niño double the chances of a bad Atlantic hurricane season this summer and fall.

With the Atlantic hurricane season much higher than normal so far, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has increased the number of storms expected and how busy the season will be.

Previous expectations were more inclined towards a season close to normal by 40%, but the chance of a normal season has now decreased to 25%.

The latest spaghetti models of Hurricane Lee show it making a northward turn – and in some cases, a turn that brings it close to the eastern coasts of the United States and Canada – as it moves across the Atlantic Ocean.

Hurricane Lee became a Category 4 storm Thursday afternoon and is expected to become a Category 5 storm before it begins to slow.