WATCH: Hurricane Lee forecast to hit Atlantic Canada Saturday morning

Hurricane Lee: Storm to ‘grow in size,’ decrease intensity as it approaches Canada’s East Coast

The Canadian Hurricane Centre says Hurricane Lee is now on its anticipated northward course toward Canada’s Maritime provinces and the state of Maine.

As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, the storm was about 675 kilometres south-southwest of Bermuda, moving north-northwest at around 25 km/h, with maximum sustained winds of 175 km/h.

“This hurricane is quite large and is expected to grow in size as it approaches,” the centre said in an update Wednesday afternoon.

However, it added that the storm’s intensity — based on peak winds — will decrease, and is expected to be just below hurricane status when it passes west of Yarmouth, on Nova Scotia’s southwestern tip, Saturday afternoon.

The centre described the arrival of Lee as “a Saturday event for the strongest impacts, with lingering, weaker conditions on Sunday.”