This Monday Sept. 13, 2010 satellite image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Igor, left, east of the Northern Leeward Islands and Tropical Storm Julia, right, south-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. Igor threatened to become a Category 5 storm Monday as it churned far out over the Atlantic Ocean. (AP Photo/NOAA)
Hurricane Igor is currently a category 4 hurricane, and forecasters say it has the potential to strengthened into the first category 5 hurricane of the season.
As of 2 p.m. Igor’s maximum sustained winds were near 150 mph and was moving west at 10 mph, the National Weather Service reported. It is currently located about 880 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands, and forecasters predict a turn toward the west-northwest sometime between Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Igor is expected to continue to be a powerful hurricane in the coming days, and fluctuations in the hurricane’s intensity may occur within the next two days. There are currently no threats to land, however it is expected to move close to Bermuda in the next few days.
If the hurricane does strengthen to a category 5, it will not only be the first category 5 of the season but also the first category 5 in the Atlantic since Felix in 2007.
Behind Igor is Tropical Storm Julia, which forecasters say could become a hurricane sometime midweek. Currently located about 155 miles west of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands, the storm is moving west-northwest at 13 mph. A tropical storm warning is in effect for the southern Cape Verde Islands, though Julia is forecasted to start to move northwest away from the islands sometime Tuesday.
