The preliminary forecast track.
PHILIPSBURG--Tropical Storm Lee formed in the Central Atlantic on Tuesday. At 5:00pm it was centred near latitude 13.2 North and longitude 41.8 West, or about 1,315 miles east of the Northeastern Caribbean.
Lee had been moving toward the west-north-west near 16 miles per hour (mph) (26 kilometres per hour (km/h)) and this motion was expected to continue for the next few days with a slight reduction in speed. According to the Meteorological Department of St. Maarten (MDS), the cyclone will pass at its closest point some 200 miles to the north-east late Saturday into Sunday.
Maximum sustained winds had increased to near 45mph (75km/h) with higher gusts. Lee is forecast to be a hurricane within a couple of days and will probably become a major hurricane by Friday.
Tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 70 miles from the centre.
The estimated minimum central pressure was 1,005 millibars.
