Rapidly intensifying Lee now Category 5 hurricane, early modeling puts New England in crosshairs

Hurricane Lee has strengthened into a Category 5 Atlantic storm with winds of 165 mph, the National Hurricane Center announced Friday morning.

Forecasters also predicted the storm to further strengthen and intensify over the next few days.

The storm is still east of the Leeward Islands and is supposed to come near or cross Puerto Rico by Tuesday morning. Early modeling shows it headed later next week toward New England or Nova Scotia.

Lee started as a Category 1 storm on Thursday, but has intensified with wind speeds doubling in just one day. 

The storm increased to 85 mph in 24 hours, which ties it with Hurricane Matthew for the third fastest rapid intensification in the Atlantic, NOAA research meteorologist John Kaplan said, according to CNN.