FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Hurricane Lee rapidly intensified from Category 2 strength to Category 5 strength with 160 mph winds in several hours Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said.

“The question doesn’t appear to be if (rapid intensification) continues, but rather how strong Lee will get, and how quickly will it get there,” forecasters wrote on Thursday.

Current models “are calling for remarkable rates of intensification, beyond rates normally seen with model forecasts,” the center said.

Fluctuations in intensity are likely over the next few days, but Lee is expected to remain a major hurricane through early next week, the hurricane center said.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Margot formed over the eastern tropical Atlantic. The storm is forecast to turn north and is not currently a threat to South Florida.

Swells generated by Lee are expected to reach portions of the Lesser Antilles on Friday, and reach the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Bahamas and Bermuda this weekend, and could be potentially “life threatening,” the National Hurricane Center said.

There is “potential for tropical storm conditions to occur on some of these islands over the weekend,” the hurricane center said Thursday.

Lee is expected to turn north at some point over the next few days, Robert Molleda, a forecaster for the National Weather Service Miami, said at a briefing Thursday morning.

“Lee is not a threat to South Florida at this time,” Molleda said. “There’s no indication right now that Lee is going to continue to roll west-northwest without stopping all the way to Florida. Is that out of realm of possibility? No, but it’s not likely.”

As of 11 p.m. Thursday, Lee was 705 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands, the eastern boundary of the Caribbean. Lee was moving west-northwest near 14 mph with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph, a dramatic increase from 80 mph earlier that morning. Tropical-storm-force winds reached up to 140 miles from Lee’s center, and hurricane-force winds reached up to 45 miles out.

Lee is supposed to slow down as it continues west-northwestward.

Its forecast track shows the hurricane headed in the general direction of the islands of the eastern Caribbean.

“There is the potential for tropical storm conditions to occur on some of these islands over the weekend,” the National Hurricane Center’s latest update said.

The current cone indicating the probable path of the eye of the storm sits just north of Puerto Rico, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

“The high pressure to the north of it, that’s what’s going to steer it,” said Anthony Reynes, senior forecaster with the National Weather Service in Miami.

“Tropical systems, they cannot go against the flow of the high pressure, they have to go around it … once it moves to the north of Puerto Rico, it’s going to start shifting more to the north and eventually northeast. The cyclone is moving around the edge of that high.”

There also will be a low pressure trough moving east over the U.S. that should also contribute to the northward motion of the storm, he said.

The system will be traveling over record-warm water, close to 86 degrees.

Lee is the fourth Atlantic hurricane of the 2023 season, behind Don, Franklin and Idalia, and the third major hurricane, meaning Category 3 or above. Franklin and Idalia were major hurricanes.

As of 11 p.m. Thursday, Tropical Storm Margot was about 355 miles west of the Cabo Verde Islands, moving west-northwest at 16 mph with maximum sustained winds near 40 mph. It should continue moving in that direction over the next several days.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from the center.

The National Hurricane Center, which operates under the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, has forecast 14 to 21 named storms, including six to 11 hurricanes, and two to five major hurricanes.

The National Hurricane Center has been predicting an “above-normal” 2023 hurricane season as a result of ongoing record-breaking sea surface temperatures that continue to fight off the tempering effects of El Niño.

While sea-surface temperatures have remained hot for longer than anticipated, El Niño’s effects, which typically reduce hurricane chances, have emerged more slowly.