Hurricane Irma forms in Atlantic and could threaten the US after Harvey slammed into Texas

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The First Baptist Church in Rockport, Texas, had extensive damage during Hurricane Harvey. Another hurricane named Irma has formed in the Atlantic Ocean and could also threaten the US. Photo: Corpus Christi Caller-Times/TNS

Published: 1:43am, 1 Sep 2017Updated: 3:27pm, 8 Sep 2017

Hurricane Irma formed in the Atlantic and is forecast to reach ‘extremely dangerous’ Category 4 strength in the next week or so, the National Hurricane Centre said on Thursday.

The hurricane was rated a Category 2 with 100-mph winds, and it is forecast to become an “extremely dangerous” major hurricane over the next several days. Irma was located about 1,845 miles east of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean.

It poses no immediate threat to land and its eventual track remains highly uncertain as is typical for storms this far out to sea.

Irma will take about a week to trek west across the Atlantic Ocean, AccuWeather said.

A handout graphic made available on August 31, 2017 by the US National Hurricane Centre shows a 5-day forecast of the possible development and path of hurricane Irma. Irma is currently a category 2 hurricane and is forecast to strengthen to a category 4 in the next few days. Photo: NOAA handout via EPA

Possibilities range from a landfall on the Leeward Islands in the northeastern Caribbean to the Carolinas and the island nation of Bermuda, and everything in between, according to AccuWeather.

Meanwhile, closer to home, the hurricane centre is also watching a separate area of disturbed weather in the western Gulf of Mexico, one that could spin up into a tropical depression or storm in the next five days.

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