On September 2, a tropical wave emerged into the tropical Atlantic from the west coast of Africa.[176] An area of low pressure formed from the wave two days later to the west-southwest of Cabo Verde.[177] On September 5, the low became more organized, with multiple low-level bands developing and formation of a well-defined center. Consequently, advisories were initiated on Tropical Depression Thirteen at 15:00 UTC that day.[178] Amid favorable conditions for intensification, the depression quickly strengthened into Tropical Storm Lee six hours later.[179] Lee continued to intensify as it became better organized, with convective banding increasing and an eye beginning to form the following afternoon. By 21:00 UTC on September 6, the system strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane[180] while located far to the east of the northern Leeward Islands.[181] Then, during the 24‑hour period ending at 06:00 UTC on September 8, Lee experienced explosive intensification, and reached Category 5 strength, with its winds increasing by 85 mph (135 km/h) to 165 mph (265 km/h).[43] Several hours later however, an increase of southwesterly wind shear, caused Lee's eye to become cloud filled and the storm became more asymmetric, causing it weaken back to a high-end Category 4 hurricane.[182] The pace of weakening quickened as the day progressed, and by early on September 9, Lee had become a low-end Category 3 hurricane.[183] Later that day, data from an evening hurricane hunters mission into the storm revealed that Lee was undergoing an eyewall replacement cycle and still being adversely affected by modest vertical wind shear; observed peak flight level winds were down from an earlier mission. As a result of these findings, the hurricane was downgraded to Category 2 at 03:00 UTC on September 10.[184] Afterwards, as the eyewall replacement cycle was concluding, the wind shear abated, which permitted the new, larger-diameter eye to contract and to grow more symmetric; as a result, Lee intensified to Category 3 strength once again that same day.[185] The system underwent two more eyewall replacement cycles over the course of the next day and a half, and while they caused some fluctuations in its size and intensity, Lee remained a major hurricane throughout.[44][186] After tracking west-northwestward to northwestward for much of its trans‑Atlantic journey, Lee turned northward on September 13, moving around the western side of the steering subtropical ridge. That same day, it also weakened to Category 2 strength.[187][188] Then, on the morning of September 14, Lee became a Category 1 hurricane while approaching Bermuda,[189] which it passed to the west by 185 mi (300 km) later in the day.[190] As it pushed northward, continued drier air entrainment and increasingly strong southerly wind shear displaced Lee's convection to the northern side of the system, weakening it further. These factors caused the hurricane to commence its extratropical transition,[191] which was completed by 09:00 UTC on September 16.[192] Later that day, the center of the cyclone made landfall on Long Island, in Nova Scotia.[193] Through the overnight hours into September 17, Lee traversed New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland before moving into the Northern Atlantic.[194] Swells generated by Lee caused dangerous surf and rip currents along the entire Atlantic coast of the United States. Strong winds with hurricane‑force gusts caused extensive power outages in the U.S. state of Maine, and in the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Two storm-related fatalities have been confirmed: a 15-year-old boy drowned in Fernandina Beach, Florida; and a 50-year-old man died in Searsport, Maine, when a tree fell onto the car he was in. Credit to Force Thirteen for the music and intro idea and also and outro
