A tropical storm warning is in effect for parts of Massachusetts

Tropical Storms During the Lee-Like Breakdown: High-Tidal Water and Winds in Maine and Nova Scotia, with and without Landfall

The good news is that Hurricane Lee is weakening and will keep doing so before making landfall near the U.S.-Canada border. The bad news is that it will bring dangerous winds and a massive amount of water to areas that are already saturated from heavy rainfall this summer.

The Canadian Hurricane Center also issued a hurricane watch on Wednesday for part of the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The center said that its hurricane and tropical storm watches referred to conditions expected on Saturday. As the storm moves toward the gulf of Maine, it was predicted to turn back to the northeast, heading toward Atlantic Canada. Landfall is likely to take place late Saturday or overnight along the Maine or Nova Scotia shorelines.

Life threatening storm surge flooding is a possibility in parts of southeastern Massachusetts late Friday and into Saturday.

“Impacts are expected to be greatest across Cape Cod, where winds may gust as high as 50-60mph,” according to the National Weather Service office in Boston.

Cape Cod Bay could see 2 to 4 feet of water above ground if the storm surge peaks along with high tide, forecasters said. The figure is from 1 to 3 feet from Sagamore Beach to the Canadian border. The Long Island Sound and Martha’s Vineyard have the possibility of having 1 to 3 feet of flooding.

The storm’s speed and its exact path will define many of these impacts: hurricanes’ heaviest rains typically fall east of the center, and the effects are amplified when a storm slows down over land.

The Environment During the Last Category 1 Hurricane to Come from the Sea: 47-Feet Waves from the East Coast of Hurricane Lee

According to the National Weather Service office in Portland, 15-20 feet of waves will likely be just offshore.

On land, high winds could down trees and cause power outages — the office warns that winds will increase Friday night, with gusts reaching 40 mph and up to 50 mph in some areas on Saturday as the winds move inland.

“The last Category 1 Hurricane to come from the sea and make a landfall in Maine was more than 50 years ago,” Tovia Smith reported on Morning Edition.

Rip currents and surf are very dangerous on the East Coast due to the energy of the Hurricane.

For a sense of what that energy looks like out in the open water, picture 47-foot waves. That number comes from the National Hurricane Center’s Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch: “Peak seas associated with Hurricane Lee are around 47 ft near the center,” the agency said Thursday. “Elsewhere, seas between 12 to 19 ft in mixed swell are expected within 480 nautical miles from the center.”

He said that heavy rainfall was expected on Sunday to the west of Nova Scotia and to the southwest of southwestern New Brunswick or the gulf of Maine. The highest waves will be seen along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia and may go into the Bay of Fundy.