File:Leslie Sept 5 2012 1710Z.jpg
At 1:15 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time on September 5 — about the same time that the NHC announced that Leslie had become a hurricane — the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image. Spanning hundreds of kilometers, Leslie had a spiral shape and clear eye characteristic of strong storms.
The following day, the NHC reported that Leslie remained a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour. Located roughly 430 miles (695 kilometers) south-southeast of Bermuda, the storm was moving northward, but only about 2 miles (3 kilometers) per hour. Meanwhile, CNN reported, officials in Bermuda warned residents to take precautions for the storm’s anticipated arrival over the coming weekend.