Via Reuters AlertNet: Katia expected to become a hurricane in Atlantic. Excerpt:
Tropical Storm Katia was expected to strengthen into a hurricane over the open Atlantic on Wednesday while another mass of thunderstorms in the western Caribbean was headed for Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, forecasters said.
Katia had sustained winds of 65 miles per hour (100 km per hour) and would become the second hurricane of the June-through-November Atlantic hurricane season if those winds reach 74 mph (119 kph).
"Strengthening is forecast during the next day or two and Katia will probably become a hurricane today," forecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
It was forecast to become a major hurricane with winds over 111 mph (178 kph) on Sunday but it was still too early to tell whether it would threaten land.
At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), Katia was about 1,100 miles (1,765 km) west of the Cape Verde Islands. It was moving rapidly west-northwest and was forecast to turn northwest in a couple of days on a course that would keep it away from the Caribbean islands.
