Hurricane Lee Closing In On Nova Scotia, Maine

Satellite view from just before dawn shows the first big
band of high clouds from Hurricane Lee approaching
Vermont from the east. 

 You're going to hear about Hurricane Lee "weakening" into a tropical storm or gradually transitioning to a non-tropical system.  

All technically true, but conditions in Nova Scotia and probably eastern Maine are going to devolve into the conditions you'd find in a Category 1 hurricane or strong tropical storm. 

It's going to be messy up there. 

Actually, tropical storm warnings are up for all of the immediate east facing coastline of New England, and that big chunk of eastern Maine. 

In Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, they're bracing for storm surges and flooding, but the biggest hazard up there will be those winds that will cause a lot of power outages. Residents have been told to expect outages that could last for days. 

Here in Vermont the Lee forecast is steady state.  Today, we'll see high clouds increase from the south and east. On Saturday, we're still expecting a cloudy, windy day.  Depending on where you are, gusts during Saturday should peak in the 30 to 40 mph range, while sustained winds between gusts will probably be 15 to 20 mph.

It's going to be on the rough on Lake Champlain, with waves on the broad lake up to three feet. So it won't be a great day up there. 

If you're hiking tomorrow, hang on to your hat! Gusts could reach as high as 60 mph on the summits of the Green Mountains. 

So Vermont all in all is still looking at a close shave, but no biggie from Lee. We got lucky. 

We might get lucky from Lee in another respect. I told you how it will the storm will create a high level overcast. Depending on how far west the high cloud shield gets, we have a shot of seeing spectacular sunsets, possibly both this evening and Saturday, too.   

If the dge of the clouds is somewhere in central New York or something like that, the setting sun would light up the high overcast into a wildly colorful evening.  No promises on that, but it's a possibility. 

We've got some additional nice "traditional" September weather coming  up. Sunday will be gorgeous (sunshine and 70).  There might be a little rain Monday and perhaps early Tuesday, but we get into a pretty long, mild, dry stretch of weather after that. 

You know how those storms would seem to stall over us all summer?  This time, a dry, sunny high pressure system will stall around us for a few days. That will be a nice change for sure.