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Hurricane Lee is maintaining winds of at least 150 mph Friday a day after rapid intensification grew the storm to Category 5 strength.

As of 11 a.m. Friday, the storm had slipped just below the 157 mph wind threshold to maintain Category 5 status. The powerful hurricane shows no signs of any significant weakening trends and is expected to remain near the threshold between a Category 4 or Category 5 storm. Meteorologists urge the public to not get distracted by category numbers and instead focus on the winds. On the Saffir Simpson hurricane wind scale, a major hurricane is a hurricane with winds of at least 111 mph, which is equivalent to Category 3 or higher.

With the storm's track towards the north and west, meteorologists continue to closely monitor the storm's long-term path over the week ahead.

The good news is Lee is still far away from land and there's not yet any long-term guidance that indicates the storm will make landfall in the U.S., but it's still something to monitor, according to WCNC Charlotte Chief Meteorologist Brad Panovich.

The storm has shown impressive strengthening in such a small period of time. Lee became a tropical depression Tuesday before being upgraded to a tropical storm hours later. The storm officially became a hurricane at 5 p.m. Wednesday and climbed to Category 5 strength by the next evening.

https://www.wcnc.com/article/weather/hurricane/hurricane-lee-spaghetti-model-forecast-impact-carolina-coast/275-2ad5b079-023b-45d0-a52d-96975a770745

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