Hurricane Lee's trajectory will veer eastward into the ocean and narrowly avoid direct landfall with Maine, according to models from the National Hurricane Center.
Hurricane Lee's trajectory comes down to whether it hits something called a trough: an area off the East Coast of low air pressure in the atmosphere. If Lee hits the trough, it will push the hurricane eastward away from the coastline and into the sea. If Lee misses the trough, the hurricane will make landfall instead.
Stephen Baron, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Gray, says the models created by the National Hurricane Center are based on data collected from weather balloons and other observational methods.
"Then we kind of take what we're seeing, look at the meteorology areas of low pressure that might be moving off, then make our best guess of which of those tracks seems the most reasonable," Baron says.
If the hurricane stays on its Eastward trajectory, Baron warns that Maine's mid-coast residents should look out for coastal flooding and very strong winds.
"When tropical storms get up this way they go through extra tropical transitioning. They become extra-tropical storms. The caveat with that is, yes, they're weakening; but their wind field also expands. So it is possible we could see high winds," Baron says.
If Lee takes a westward approach toward land, Maine could experience flooding rains as well as high winds. Baron says meteorologists will ultimately have more accurate projections as Lee approaches this weekend.