Hurricane Lee arrives Saturday; Maine braces for power outages and coastal damage

Winds and waves will be a major factor Saturday when Lee hits Maine — with power outages expected. Lee wraps up Saturday night, and it will be much nicer on Sunday and next week.

TRACK

No major changes in the track forecast with Lee, still forecast to make landfall in Nova Scotia.

Due to the massive wind-field with Lee, pretty much the entire Maine coast will see tropical storm conditions.

TIMING

Conditions will go downhill quickly Saturday morning. From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. we will see the impacts from Lee, with the worst conditions likely towards the middle of the day.

High tide is at 12:47 p.m. and will bring the biggest threat for coastal damage.

COASTAL IMPACTS

Lee will be a large, powerful storm by the time it reaches Maine. The main coastal threat is from the enormous waves slamming onto the coast causing damage, especially around the midday high tide.

Stay away from the ocean! Large rogue waves could catch you off guard and easily pull you out to sea.

There is also a major threat of coastal erosion up and down the Maine coastline.

MORE INFORMATION

• Preparations underway as Maine coast braces for impact of Hurricane Lee

• Hurricane Lee arrives Saturday; Maine braces for power outages and coastal damage

• Hurricane Tracker: Follow Lee as it approaches Maine

• How to prepare for Hurricane Lee’s arrival

Winds will be strongest in Downeast Maine. Gusts over 50 mph are likely. Winds will be less in central and southern Maine, but the outage threat is still high. WGME graphic

WIND GUSTS

All of Maine will see gusty winds with Lee. The highest winds will be along the Midcoast and Down East immediate coastlines. Winds there will gust over 50 mph, potentially approaching or exceeding 60 mph.

Further inland for places such as Lewiston and Augusta will see wind gusts approaching and potentially exceed 40 mph.

With saturated soils and stressed trees from the very wet summer, the risk of power outages is high.

The highest risk of widespread outages will be in Midcoast and Down East.

RELATIVELY LOW RAINFALL

Outside of Down East, rainfall is the lowest on the threat list for Lee. Down East will likely see several inches of rain with the potential for some freshwater flooding.

Central and southern Maine will be on the much drier side of Lee. Only light rainfall amounts are expected, less than half an inch potentially for many. There could even be some sun late Saturday.