Ian rapidly strengthened Tuesday morning into a major hurricane over western Cuba as Florida’s west coast braces for what could be one of the worst storms to make landfall in Tampa in over a century.
Ian became a Category 3 storm earlier this morning, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm is expected to sustain major hurricane status as it approaches the Florida west coast.
“The center of Ian is expected to move near or over western Cuba overnight and early Tuesday,” NHC said. It will then traverse over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, passing just west of the Florida Keys late Tuesday, and approach the west coast of Florida on Wednesday into Thursday.
Here’s Ian’s projected path.
