There seemed to be zero consistency on forecasts and reports related to Hurricane Lee early Friday morning, despite it developing into a major storm.
Two massive systems were developing in the Atlantic early Tuesday morning. One of those systems turned into Hurricane Lee. Then, in less than a 12-hour period, Hurricane Lee grew from a small Cat. 1 storm to something terrifyingly huge.
But no one could seem to agree over whether Lee was a Cat. 4 or Cat. 5 as of Thursday evening. MyRadar meteorologist Matthew Cappucci couldn’t say whether Hurricane Lee was Cat. 4 or 5, or just on its way to being that enormous.
Extreme meteorologist and rockstar storm chaser Reed Timmer shared an absolutely mind-blowing video of the lightning inside Hurricane Lee on Friday, claiming the system was already at a Cat. 5 level.
This is simply breathtaking – lightning and stadium effect inside category 5 Hurricane Lee. FlynonymousWx is such a great follow https://t.co/q59IUbTeB1
— Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerAccu) September 8, 2023
By mid-morning Friday, everyone seemed to agree Lee was a Cat. 5. One outlet said Lee is officially “one of the biggest storms on record,” apparently sustaining wind speeds of 160 mph. Some have argued such an enormous system should be categorized as a Cat. 6, but losers in Big Science can’t be bothered to do the work to readjust our current scales as new data becomes available.
Overall, the answer to how worried we should be is: very. No, you don’t need to freak out because of this current storm. You need to freak out because the people you constantly give your power and authority to don’t have a clue what they’re doing. (RELATED: Hurricane Jova Is The Strongest So Far In 2023. And It’s Barreling Toward Hawaii)
Tropical Storm Margot emerged Friday right behind Hurricane Lee, and is expected to strengthen. It’s only a matter of time before one of these storms makes landfall in the U.S. again.