Hurricane Lee rapidly intensified to a Category 5 storm on Thursday night as it churned towards Caribbean islands with “life-threatening” conditions expected to develop in the coming days.
The National Hurricane Center said in its 11pm advisory that the storm could go through “further strengthening” overnight, which could make it one of the rarest hurricanes in the Atlantic.
Lee was located about 705 miles (1,135km) east of the northern Leeward Islands and packing maximum sustained winds of 160mph (260kph).
Forecasters say Lee could become a “monster 180 mph” storm by Friday morning.
The storm is expected to pass well to the north of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico over the weekend and into early next week, the forecaster said.
The NHC has warned that dangerous beach conditions were expected to develop around the Western Atlantic through early next week.
Lee is the 12th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from 1 June 1 to 30 November.