Hurricane Irma remains a Category 3 with potential to grow

Hurricane Irma remained a Category 3 storm Sunday morning with 115 mph maximum sustained winds after bumping up from Category 2 overnight.

And, the National Hurricane Center’s 11 a.m. advisory warned, “Some strengthening is forecast through the next 48 hours.”

Irma continued to move west-southwest at about 14 mph. The storm is expected to slow Sunday night, then turn to the west on Monday.

The latest track has it at least side-swiping, if not directly hitting, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

The hurricane center on Sunday advised the Leeward Islands, about 855 miles west of Irma, to keep track of the storm with “Hurricane and Tropical Storm Watches will likely be required for portions of these islands later today or tonight.”

As storms go, Irma is a compact system with hurricane-force winds up to 25 miles from the center and tropical storm winds up to 80 miles from the center.

The next full hurricane center advisory will be 5 p.m.

This story was originally published September 3, 2017 at 8:32 AM with the headline "Hurricane Irma remains a Category 3 with potential to grow."