Hurricane Irma continues its voyage westward over the Atlantic Ocean

Hurricane Irma has been upgraded for the second time Thursday August 31,2017 and is now at Category 3 strength as it continues its voyage westward over the Atlantic Ocean.

Its winds are now blowing at a sustained 115mph

'Irma is forecast to become a major hurricane by tonight and is expected to be an extremely dangerous hurricane for the next several days,' warned National Weather Service forecaster Eric Blake.

It was already upgraded from tropical storm to Category 2 hurricane on Thursday, and wasn't expected to reach Category 3 until Friday Sep 01,2017

Hurricane Irma will take Hurricane Irma a week to cross the Atlantic - at which point it could either head north-west toward the Carolinas, or west and strike Puerto Rice and its neighbors

Note

THE HURRICANE CATEGORY SCALE

As storms pick up wind speeds, they increase from tropical depressions to hurricanes. In increasing order, the categories are:

Tropical depression: around 38mph 

Tropical storm: 39-73mph 

Category 1: 74-95mph

Category 2: 96-110mph

Category 3: 111-129mph

Category 4: 130-156mph

Category 5: 157mph and over