HurricaneTracks
Menu

All storm pages · 2023 Atlantic season

Hurricane Lee 2023

Category 5 hurricane · Atlantic · September 5 to September 16, 2023

Lee's hurricane-force winds extended 138 miles from the center, the third-widest hurricane-force field of the 171 Atlantic hurricanes measured this way since 2004. It reached Category 5 with 165 mph winds, one of 44 Atlantic storms to do so since 1851. No other storm of the 2023 Atlantic season matched its 165 mph peak; the season had 21 storms.

Track of Lee (2023) from the best-track record, coloured by strength20°N30°N40°N50°N80°W70°W60°W50°W40°W30°W20°WNova Scotia, 65 mphPeak 165 mphFirst recordNot tropicalDepressionTropical stormCategory 1Category 2Category 3Category 4Category 500 and 12 UTCLandfall

Strength over time

Maximum sustained wind of Lee (2023) over time, in mphTSCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 4Cat 504080120160200Sep 6Sep 8Sep 10Sep 12Sep 14Sep 16Sep 18mph
  1. First record (tropical depression) 1,150 miles east-northeast of Paramaribo, Suriname
  2. Tropical storm 1,075 miles east-northeast of Paramaribo, Suriname
  3. Hurricane 865 miles northeast of Paramaribo, Suriname
  4. Major hurricane 645 miles east-northeast of Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados
  5. Peak 535 miles northeast of Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados; lowest pressure 926 mb
  6. No longer tropical (extratropical low) 260 miles east of New Bedford, Massachusetts
  7. Landfall Nova Scotia: depression, 65 mph, 970 mb
  8. Last record 745 miles east-northeast of Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Against every Atlantic storm since 1851

Peak sustained wind165 mph · tied 21st of 1,98830 mph190 mph
Lowest central pressure926 mb · tied 41st of 1,277882 mb1016 mb
Accumulated cyclone energy36.7 · 55th of 1,7520.173.6
Days as a tropical or subtropical cyclone10.5 days · tied 216th of 1,9880.0 days31.8 days

More from the record

It generated 25% of the season's accumulated cyclone energy, more than any other 2023 storm.

Its winds climbed 80 mph in the 24 hours to September 8.

In the 2023 season

04080120160200Lee

Storm 13 of 21 in 2023, hurricane 4 of 7; it formed after Katia and before Margot. See the season.

Closest to land

Nearest town of 10,000 people or more: Hamilton, Bermuda, 174 miles from the center on September 15 (Category 1 hurricane stage).

Storms within 150 miles of Hamilton, Bermuda

Similar landfalls in Nova Scotia

Storms whose strongest landfall record in Nova Scotia came closest to Lee's 65 mph:

  • Barry (1995)60 mph, July 9, 1995
  • Beth (1971)70 mph, August 16, 1971
  • Storm 1 of 202350 mph, January 17, 2023
  • Earl (2010)75 mph, September 4, 2010

All 16 storms with a landfall record in Nova Scotia

Also peaked at 165 mph

Of 6 storms from other Atlantic seasons, the nearest in time: