Hurricane Lee: Massachusetts and Maine under state of emergency as storm nears-live

The deadly firestorm in Hawaii and Hurricane Idalia’s watery storm surge helped push the United States to a record for the number of weather disasters that cost $1 billion or more. And there’s still four months to go on what’s looking more like a calendar of calamities.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Monday that there have been 23 weather extreme events in America that cost at least $1 billion this year through August, eclipsing the year-long record total of 22 set in 2020. So far this year’s disasters have cost more than $57.6 billion and claimed at least 253 lives.

And NOAA’s count doesn’t yet include Tropical Storm Hilary’s damages in hitting California and a deep drought that has struck the South and Midwest because those costs are still to be totaled, said Adam Smith, the NOAA applied climatologist and economist who tracks the billion-dollar disasters.

The NOAA has released a new trajectory model showing the predicted path Hurricane Lee will take when it makes landfall near the US and Canadian borders on Saturday.

Hurricane Lee is a Category 1 storm, and is expected to bring high winds and strong storm surges to the region.

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey has declared a state of emergency and has activated the National Guard ahead of Hurricane Lee’s arrival in the region later this evening.

The storm is continuing its push north in the Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters believe that the eastern edge of the storm will brush Cape Cod and coastal Massachusetts on its way toward the easternmost Canadian provinces.

Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Cape Cod, the Islands, and coastal Massachusetts. Wind speeds are predicted to reach up to 60mph (97km/h) on Saturday.

The National Weather Service said heavy rains are not anticipated for that region.

Surfers were captured riding the waves near Montauk, New York as Hurricane Lee approaches the US northeast.

The storm is producing 10-foot waves along portions of the northeast coast. While waves of that size are not uncommon for the region, they don’t typically occur when the water is warm, providing surfers with a rare treat.

Surfers in New Hampshire were quick to capitalise on the opportunity before Hurricane Lee arrives in the region on Friday evening.

“It’s like surfing in Hawaii,” surf photographer Ralph Fatello told the Portsmouth Herald. “We don’t get that that often.”\

The National Hurricane Centre predicts that the Hurricane Lee will bring 2 to 4 inches (50-100ml) of rain to eastern Maine, western Nova Scotia, and portions of New Brunswick beginning tonight and lasting through Saturday evening.

The agency warned the rains could “produce localized urban and small stream flooding.”

Maine declared a state of emergency on Thursday ahead of the storm’s arrival.

The National Hurricane Centre has updated its list of watches and warnings ahead of Hurricane Lee’s arrival in New England and Canada.

SUMMARY OF WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT:

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for…

* New Brunswick from the U.S./Canada border to Point Lepreau, including Grand Manan Island

* Nova Scotia from Digby to Ecum Secum

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for…

* Westport Massachusetts northward to the U.S./Canada border

* New Brunswick from the U.S./Canada border to Fort Lawrence, including Grand Manan Island

* Nova Scotia from Fort Lawrence to Point Tupper

The Hurricane Watch for Down East Maine has been discontinued.

Hurricane Lee was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane this week after reaching Category 5 late last week.

The storm thankfully did not make landfall during its peak power, but is now poised to bring rains and high winds to New England and Canada’s southeastern coast on Saturday.

According to the National Hurricane Centre, the storm has become asymmetrical as its crawled up the US east coast, with most of its thunderstorms on its north side and its dry air trapped on the south.

Despite its weakening due to the Atlantic wind shear, the storm is still enormous. Tropical storm-speed winds extend up to 320 miles from Hurricane Lee’s center, and will be felt in New England just a day after the remnants of the storm leave Bermuda.

Bermuda will experience tropical storm force winds through Friday morning and early afternoon as Hurricane Lee moves away from the island.

Emergency crews were dispatched to assess the island for damage on Friday morning, according to Lt Col David Burch, the acting Minister of National Security.

Some neighborhoods suffered power outages. The island’s school were kept closed Friday to assess damage.

Hurricane Lee is approximately 180 nautical miles north of the island as it heads for a weekend landfall near the US-Canada border.

Earth is exceeding its “safe operating space for humanity” in six of nine key measurements of its health and two of the remaining three are headed in the wrong direction, a new study has said.

Earth’s climate, biodiversity, land, freshwater, nutrient pollution and “novel” chemicals (human-made compounds like microplastics and nuclear waste) are all out of whack, a group of international scientists said in the journal Science Advances.

Only the acidity of the oceans, the health of the air and the ozone layer are within the boundaries considered safe and both ocean and air pollution are heading in the wrong direction, the study said.

“We are in very bad shape,” said study co-author Johan Rockstrom, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.

“We show in this analysis that the planet is losing resilience and the patient is sick.”