Irma becomes Category 3 hurricane, will get stronger. But where’s it headed?

An updated forecast for Hurricane Irma can be found here.

In the hours since Irma was named as a Category 2 storm Thursday morning, it has quickly gained even more power, becoming the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season’s second major hurricane only six hours later.

As of the NHC’s 5 p.m. update, the storm was spinning roughly 700 miles east of the Cabo Verde Islands and is moving west at around 12 mph, with sustained winds of 115 mph and gusts up to 132 mph. Category 3 hurricane status is confirmed at 111 mph.

Irma has rapidly intensified, skipping Category 1 classification entirely and growing from tropical storm to major hurricane in less than a day and a half. In their 5 p.m. update the NHC called Irma’s nearly 58 mph increase in wind speed since its classification as a tropical storm at 11 a.m. on Wednesday “remarkable”. Conditions in the Atlantic are ripe right now for such quick development.

“What we are looking for in the Atlantic is weak vertical wind shear and warm sea surface temperatures,” said Emily Timte, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston. “If those conditions are favorable then we can see this fast development.”

Tropical weather track

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Source: National Hurricane Center

^{The above graphic will be updated automatically.}

Over the next few days, Irma is expected to turn west-southwest, NHC reports. No predictions have yet been made about where it might eventually make landfall, and no coastal watches or warnings have yet been issued.

“It’s really too far out to tell what, if any, impact it will have on the United States,” said Timte. “If it impacted the area it would probably be late next week.”

The storm could end up making landfall anywhere from the Leeward Islands to the Carolinas according to AccuWeather. It might be possible, according to the organization, for steering winds to take the storm close to the Leeward Islands before taking it somewhere else.

Right now, the NHC is taking a relatively short view, looking only five days ahead as opposed to other forecasts which try to predict further out.

A storm following a winding path is not unusual. Hurricane Harvey made landfall in the Lesser Antilles and Yucatan Peninsula before reaching peak intensity and making landfall twice in the Gulf Coast.

Irma is expected to grow into a Cetegory 4 storm by next week, with predicted winds over 138 mph and gusts of over 160 mph.

This story was originally published August 31, 2017 at 9:43 AM with the headline "Irma becomes Category 3 hurricane, will get stronger. But where’s it headed?."