PHILIPSBURG:---The forecasts of a busy Atlantic hurricane season are proving accurate.
as Tropica Storm Irma is the new hurricane, that has fired up in the central Atlantic Ocean, the National Hurricane Center said Thursday.
The hurricane was rated a Category 2 with 100-mph winds, and it is forecast to roar into an "extremely dangerous" major hurricane over the next several days.
As of 11 a.m. ET, Irma was located about 1,845 miles east of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean.
It poses no immediate threat to land and its eventual track remains highly uncertain as is typical for storms this far out to sea.
Irma will take about a week to trek west across the Atlantic Ocean, AccuWeather said.
Possibilities range from a landfall on the Leeward Islands in the northeastern Caribbean to the Carolinas and the island nation of Bermuda - and everything in between, according to AccuWeather.
Meanwhile, closer to home, the hurricane center is also watching a separate area of disturbed weather in the western Gulf of Mexico, one that could spin up into a tropical depression or storm in the next five days.
"Development, if any, of this system is expected to be slow to occur as the low moves slowly northward," the hurricane center said. "If this system does develop, it could bring additional rainfall to portions of the Texas and Louisiana coasts."
And in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Tropical Storm Lidia is taking aim on Mexico's Baja Peninsula. As of 11 a.m. ET, Lidia had winds of 50 mph and was located about 45 miles south-southeast of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Tropical storm warnings are in effect for much of the Baja as well as the west coast of Mexico.
Lidia is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 8 to 12 inches across the Mexican states of Baja California Sur into Baja California and western Jalisco, with isolated maximum totals of 20 inches.
The rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides.
Irma may become Category 4 hurricane while tracking forecast to reach 'extremely dangerous' Category 4 strength
