NOAA’s National Hurricane Center issued a Public Advisory due to Hurricane Irma that is forecast to become a powerful Category 4 hurricane by Monday.

As of 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on Friday, September 1, 2017, Hurricane Irma has maximum sustained winds of 120 mph (195 km/h), with higher gusts.

As shown in the above satellite image, Irma has finished an eyewall replacement cycle as a borderline Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

Irma is expected to strengthen into an even more powerful hurricane over the next several days.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles (35 km) from the center of the tropical cyclone and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 105 miles (165 km).

Spaghetti models are in general agreement that Hurricane Irma’s projected path will take the tropical cyclone across the Atlantic and towards the Leeward Island. However, it is still too early for the computer models to predict where Irma would make landfall, if at all.

Hurricane Irma is located 1495 miles east of the Leeward Islands, and is moving to the west at 13 mph (20 km/h). NHC forecasters say that Irma is expected to turn toward the west-southwest on Saturday.

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center forecasts that the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 through November 30, could be the busiest in seven years.