Hurricane Lee has weakened slightly into a category 4 storm.

It follows a day in which the hurricane strengthened at an historic pace into a powerful category 5 rarely seen in the Atlantic Ocean.

Lee, was a category 1 storm yesterday but intensified with exceptional speed in warm ocean waters, doubling its wind speeds in just a day.

The hurricane is packing destructive maximum sustained winds of 155 mph and is about 550 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands.

Lee is expected to remain a major hurricane over the southwestern Atlantic early next week.