Picking up strength in the open Pacific on Monday, Hurricane Iselle was upgraded to a Category Four storm as it closed the 1,245-mile distance between itself and Hawaii.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Center upgraded eastward moving Iselle to a Category Four storm on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale, according to AFP. Earlier Monday, it had been listed as a Category Three storm.
In its latest advisory, though, the hurricane center forecast a "gradual weakening" over the coming days and, on its current trajectory, Iselle could reach Hawaii as a tropical storm by early Friday.
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At 1500 GMT, Iselle was packing maximum sustained winds of 140 miles per hour and moving west near 10 miles per hour, it said.
No coastal watches or warnings are in effect.
Separately, the hurricane center warned that Tropical Storm Julio – swirling in the Pacific about 900 miles southwest of the southern tip of Baja California – could be near hurricane strength by Wednesday.
At 1500 GMT, Julio was packing maximum sustained winds of near 45 miles per hour and advancing to the west at about 13 miles per hour.
Meanwhile, Hurrican Bertha was east of the Bahamas and moving north, according to Bloomberg.
"Bertha will continue moving north today before taking a turn to the northeast, missing the Eastern Seaboard of the United States," said Paul Walker, a meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania. "It’s going to be a threat, however, for some of the far eastern provinces of Canada."
Bertha is the second hurricane of the Atlantic season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. The basin usually produces its second storm of that strength by Aug. 28, according to the hurricane center.
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