Update: Hurricane Matthew upgraded to a Category 4 as path remains uncertain

Hurricane Matthew has been upgraded from a Category 3 to a Category 4 hurricane.

The coast of South Carolina could start to see the effects of the storm anytime between the middle of next week through Friday, said Reid Hawkins of the National Weather Service.

“It looks like it’s going to be a bigger storm than we’ve seen in the last few years,” he said.

The National Hurricane Center reports that wind speeds are currently 140 mph, and Hawkins said the hurricane is moving west by southwest at 9 mph.

The National Hurricane Center reports that the storm is southeast of Jamaica and should begin to turn north Saturday night, but Hawkins said it’s too early to tell if the storm will move along the coast or stay off-shore.

“Please don’t focus on the track right now, because it will shift, as we’ve seen in the past,” he said.

Hawkins noted that the hurricane is in the same area where Hurricane Hazel started, but that there was a “high disparity” between the different models of the storm’s path. He said it was too early to talk about how the storm could affect the coast.

The weather service reports that Myrtle Beach will see a 20 to 30 percent chance of thunderstorms Friday night through Sunday night with high temperatures in the low 80s and lows in the upper 60s.

There’s a 30 percent chance of showers on Monday and Tuesday.

This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 12:36 PM with the headline "Update: Hurricane Matthew upgraded to a Category 4 as path remains uncertain."