H. Rose Schneider reports in the Times Union that the powerful Hurricane Lee in the Atlantic Ocean is expected to hit eastern New England and Nova Scotia this weekend, perhaps missing the Catskills and Hudson Valley. Tom Wasula, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Albany, asked about the chances of local impact, said, “They’re not nonzero.... But they don’t look like there should be significant impact.” But in 2011 the forecast was similar as Hurricane Irene was predicted to impact eastern Massachusetts. Instead, it veered west and devasted the Catskills, western Massachusetts, and Vermont. That storm devasted Prattsville, and other local communities. And, like now, the local ground was saturated then from weeks of rain. But Wasula is predicting nice weather locally instead of the storm. “One more round of showers and thunderstorms, but the news is good for the end of this week,” he said. Meteorologists are tracking the storm and will report on any changes in its path. Read more about this story in the Times Union.