UPDATE: Hurricane Irma has been upgraded to a category 4 storm. 

Irma is expected to reach the Carribbean on Tuesday. 

So far, Puerto Rico and Florida have declared a State of Emergency 

NEW: #Irma now a Cat. 4, little change in forecast track | MORE: https://t.co/auzDBvzxFg https://t.co/B97LzBGEvQ

— Josh Eachus (@JoshEachus) September 4, 2017

Original Story: 

Hurricane Irma is threatening to challenge the peak intensity of Hurricane Harvey. With a minimum central pressure of 979mb and maximum sustained winds of 100mph, as of Thursday morning, the system was moving west, northwest at 10mph.

See the associated video for more on Irma and many other significant weather features that could affect the Baton Rouge area next week.

Irma is forecast to become a category four hurricane with potential to reach category five status. The National Hurricane Center said, “Irma is rapidly intensifying over the eastern Atlantic,” and is “forecast to become a major hurricane by tonight and is expected to be an extremely dangerous hurricane for the next several days.”

It is still too soon to forecast track beyond the Leeward Islands, but the United States will need to monitor this one very closely into next week. As always, the WBRZ Weather Team is here for you, on every platform. Your weather updates can be found on News 2, wbrz.com, Facebook, Twitter and the WBRZ WX App. on Apple and Android devices.