Columbus, Ga (WRBL)-  Tropics: Lee became a hurricane Wednesday evening and continues to strengthen, winds so far early Thursday morning are around 80 mph. Lee will rapidly strengthen into a major hurricane by Friday and into the weekend, it is expected to stay north of the islands and will eventually curve out to sea.

Tracking a cold front that will bring a few stray showers and storms to the News 3 viewing area. Starting off with a mixture of sun and clouds but as the front begins to progress through the area and interact with daytime heating, we’ll begin to see a couple of showers and storms this afternoon. The best chance will be mainly east of Columbus after midday, one or two storms may be strong with wind the primary threat.

Not bad behind the front with a mixture of sun and clouds and highs in the low 90s, rain chances continue to remain low, but I can’t completely rule out a couple of pop-up shower or storm late Saturday.