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Hurricane Ian is rapidly strengthening in the Caribbean as it approaches northwest Cuba, and the cyclone’s threats widened further Monday for the Florida Keys.
The cyclone is approaching Cuba with maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour, according to the latest bulletin from the National Hurricane Center (NHC).
The office detailed that Ian was about 100 miles west of Grand Cayman and about 240 miles southeast of the western tip of Cuba, which is bracing for worsening conditions starting tonight.
Meteorologists from the Miami-based agency said the island will face significant winds tonight, as well as the impacts of storm surge.
The NHC also extended in its latest bulletin a tropical storm warning for several sectors of the Florida Keys and the west coast of this state in the next 48 hours.
Ian is currently a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, out of a total of 5, but is expected to reach a higher strength as it makes landfall in the Gulf of Mexico in the next few days.
The cyclone is moving northwestward at about 13 miles per hour.
According to the NHC, the hurricane is expected to cause “significant wind and storm surge impacts” on western Cuba, where it is estimated to arrive shortly after midnight tonight.
The agency maintains hurricane warnings for the next 36 hours for Grand Cayman and the Cuban provinces of Isla de Juventud, Pinar del Río, and Artemisa.
There is also a tropical storm warning for the next 36 hours for the provinces of Havana, Mayabeque, and Matanzas.
