Hurricane Lee on path for New England and Canada with Category 1 storm expected to be "large and dangerous"

Hurricane Lee was barreling toward eastern New England and Canada's Atlantic coast Thursday and was expected to make landfall over the weekend, forecasters said. The Category 1 storm, which grew at one point last week to Category 5 strength, was expected to "remain a very large and dangerous cyclone" as it continued on a trajectory north, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Lee has prompted a hurricane watch to be issued in Maine for the first time since 2008, CBS News senior weather and climate producer David Parkinson reported. The hurricane center said Thursday that hurricane conditions were possible in Down East Maine on Saturday.

Forecasters warned that coastal areas from New York's Long Island to the U.S.-Canada border, including Boston Harbor, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket in Massachusetts, could see between 1-3 feet in storm surge if the surge peaks at the same time as high tide.

Stephanie Abrams, a meteorologist with The Weather Channel, said on "CBS Mornings" on Thursday that the storm was expected to make landfall between Saturday and Sunday. Lee was expected to dump rain on already saturated ground, which could lead to flash flooding.

"This storm will be affecting more than just the coast," Abrams said. "… The winds will ramp up on Friday, crank through the day on Saturday and then slowly start to taper off as we head into our Sunday."

What category is Hurricane Lee?

As of 5 p.m. EDT on Thursday, Lee was a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph, according to the hurricane center.

Hurricane-force winds were extending up to 105 miles from the center of Lee and tropical-storm-force winds were extending up to 345 miles from the center. A buoy located about 75 miles west of Lee's center measured a sustained wind of 67 mph that lasted for one minute.

Hurricanes are rated in categories from 1 to 5 based on the speed of its maximum sustained winds. Although Category 1 storms are considered the lowest rating, the hurricane center says they're "very dangerous" and could damage homes and power lines, causing outages that could go on for days.

Hurricane Lee's "cone of uncertainty"

The hurricane center releases forecast cones for tropical cyclones showing the probable path for a storm's center. The forecast cone is sometimes called the "cone of uncertainty" because the storm's center historically moves outside of the probable path "about a third of the time," according to the center. Officials urge people to not focus entirely on a storm's center because its effects can be felt hundreds of miles away.

The forecast cone for Lee shows its center potentially making landfall between eastern Maine and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Where is Hurricane Lee?

The center of the storm was about 210 miles west of Bermuda and about 665 miles south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, according to the hurricane center. Lee was moving north at 15 mph.

Ahead of the storm, a hurricane watch was in effect from Stonington, Maine, to the U.S.-Canada border and parts of eastern Canada. The watch means hurricane conditions are possible for the area.

A tropical storm warning was issued from Westport, Massachusetts, to the U.S.-Canada border, including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, the hurricane center said. The warning means tropical storm conditions are expected in the area within 36 hours.

Meanwhile, a tropical storm watch was in effect for parts of eastern Canada. The watch means tropical storm conditions were possible within the area within 48 hours.

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Alex Sundby

Alex Sundby is a senior editor for CBSNews.com

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