Hurricane Dorian became a potentially devastating Category 3 storm on Friday as it continued to churn in the Atlantic Ocean on its course to the southeastern United States early next week, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The storm's maximum sustained winds increased to 115 mph Friday afternoon, the center said, pushing it to Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.
The hurricane posed a "significant threat" to the northwestern Bahamas and Florida, the center said.
As of midmorning Friday, Dorian was about 445 miles east of the northwestern Bahamas and its core was expected to move over the Atlantic north of the southeastern and central Bahamas on Friday and Saturday. It was then expected to move near or over the northwestern Bahamas on Sunday and be near the Florida peninsula late Monday, the center said.
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