South Coast emergency managers are keeping an eye on Hurricane Lee as it accelerates northward on its path toward Maine and Atlantic Canada.
The entire Massachusetts coast is under a tropical storm warning from the National Hurricane Center as of Thursday evening.
Wind gusts of 30 mph-plus could affect the South Coast from Friday afternoon through Saturday, according to National Weather Service forecasters. They say coastal flooding is also possible in the South Coast early Saturday morning, even though peak storm surge should hit at low tide in the region.
National Hurricane Center meteorologists downgraded Lee from a Category 2 to a Category 1 hurricane Thursday morning, as sustained storm wind speeds dropped from 105 to 85 mph. It is currently moving north at 14 mph, but forecasters expect it to pick up forward speed and pivot northeast as it develops through Saturday.
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Rob Megnia, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Norton office, said on Thursday that his team is “highly confident” that Hurricane Lee will not make landfall in Massachusetts.
Still, the South Coast should expect at least 1 to 3 inches of rain this weekend, Megnia said, as Lee spreads over a wide area. Trees and power lines may fall, resulting in power outages, he said, because of winds and saturated soils from recent rains.
“It can’t be stressed enough that regardless of Lee’s designation, it will remain a large and dangerous cyclone while it approaches eastern New England and Atlantic Canada,” National Hurricane Center senior hurricane specialist Daniel Brown said in a Thursday forecast.
South Coast leaders and utility workers are heeding this caution and making preparations.
Eversource has deployed 400 line crews and 200 tree crews to the southeastern part of the state ahead of the storm, and gotten in touch with communities, said Craig Hallstrom, president of electric operations at the company.
“Our communities are important partners, and we really strive to make sure we address their priorities — mostly wire-downs, blocked roads,” Hallstrom said in a Thursday media briefing. “We’ve reached out to medical customers to give them an idea of what to expect and how to plan. And then we’ve done some general outreach to customers.”
New Bedford will close the Harbor Walk, Cove Walk, Fort Taber, and all city beaches and boat ramps from 8 p.m. Friday until further guidance is given, according to a statement released Thursday.
Buttonwood Park Zoo and the City of New Bedford Recycling Center will be closed on Saturday. The city added that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may close the hurricane barrier in advance of the storm.
“The New Bedford Port Authority encourages all vessel owners to make arrangements for berthing or hauling in the harbor as far in advance of the arrival of storm conditions as possible,” the statement said.
The storm will also affect ferry service from New Bedford. Cuttyhunk Ferry Company will make shortened runs this weekend, canceling its Friday night and Saturday trips, according to owner Sue Billings, due to safety concerns over the hurricane.
Seastreak will continue regular ferry service to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket from New Bedford during the weekend storm, according to a company ticket agent.
But the Martha’s Vineyard ferries will stop in Vineyard Haven during the storm, instead of Oak Bluffs. The Nantucket route will operate as normal.
Meteorologists with the National Weather Service’s Boston office said that while a consensus of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration models shows Lee will pass well offshore of southern New England, the region should still be prepared for tropical storm-force winds and rain as the storm grows wider.
They note that the storm will begin expanding Friday evening as it nears the coastline, before dissipating two days later.
The National Hurricane Center extended its tropical storm warning Thursday evening to cover the entire Massachusetts coast, as well as New Hampshire’s and Maine’s. Tropical storm conditions are expected to begin here on Friday evening, the Thursday forecast said, and are expected to continue through Saturday.
Computer models show that the hurricane’s west side will pass Massachusetts east of Nantucket by 8 a.m. Saturday, before Lee makes landfall as a Category 1 hurricane or tropical storm in Maine or Nova Scotia Saturday evening. The storm sits 665 miles south of Nantucket as of Thursday evening.
The South Coast currently has a 5% to 30% chance of experiencing tropical storm-force winds this weekend, according to the Thursday National Hurricane Center forecast, with no current chance of those winds exceeding 57 mph.
Megnia says that his office is watching for any westward movement of the storm, which could intensify weather conditions in southeastern Massachusetts.
“The winds could be a little bit stronger; the rainfall can be a bit heavier,” he said. “Track shifts in 20 miles can mean a big difference in impact for the rest of the [state’s] interior.”
Email reporter Adam Goldstein at agoldstein@newbedfordlight.org.
