With Lee now a hurricane, here’s how it may impact SC, forecasters say

Hurricane Lee is expected to become a major hurricane in the coming days, but South Carolinians likely won’t notice much.

Lee was upgraded from a tropical storm to a hurricane on Wednesday and is forecast to become a major hurricane by early Friday, according to the National Weather Service.

However, so far, long-term outlooks show that the hurricane will likely not impact South Carolina, forecasters say. Instead, the hurricane is projected to move north of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico this weekend into early next week, the NWS states. Some of those islands could experience tropical storm conditions.

After passing the islands, the storm is expected to turn into the southwest Atlantic, missing the entire South Carolina coast.

Hurricane season 2023

Lee is the 13th named storm this year.

South Carolina is expected to have an above-normal hurricane season for the remainder of the year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The latest forecast, which includes the entire hurricane season that lasts from June through November, calls for 14-21 named storms (winds of 39 mph or greater), of which six to 11 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or greater). And of those, two to five could become major hurricanes (winds of 111 mph or greater).

Lee comes just over a week after Hurricane Idalia hit, causing significant flooding to coastal counties in South Carolina, along with power outages and downed trees.