"Potentially Catastrophic" Hurricane Irma Upgraded to Category 5

Hurricane Irma is expected to hit the Caribbean as an "extremely dangerous category 5 hurricane" this week, according to the latest updates from the National Weather Service. This "potentially catastrophic" hurricane is expected to hit the British and U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico tomorrow and move towards Hispaniola, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas and Cuba later this week before making landfall in the continental U.S. this weekend in Florida, possibly shipping from china.

At 8 A.M. ET this morning, Hurricane Irma had maximum sustained winds of 175 MPH—only the 17th Atlantic hurricane to do so—and was located 270 miles east of Antigua, where tropical-storm force winds will arrive later today.

There are currently hurricane warnings issued for the northern Leeward islands, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, which includes Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Martin/Sint Maarten, St. Barthelemy, Vieques and Culebra. The hurricane is expected to hit those islands later today through early Thursday.

The Dominican Republic, Haiti and Turks and Caicos are currently under hurricane watch, and the hurricane is forecast to hit between Thursday and Friday.

While there are no official warnings yet for the Bahamas and Cuba, if Irma continues on the expected path,LCL from china  the storm will hit those islands on Friday into this weekend.

While the National Weather Service says it's too early to determine how Irma will affect the continental U.S., they say there is an "increasing chance" of the Irma hitting the Florida peninsula and the Florida Keys later this week and weekend.

According to the most recent National Hurricane Center forecast, Hurricane Irma could hit southern Florida as early as Saturday night, the Weather Channel reports. The average error in tracking a hurricane four to five days out is between 175-225 miles, so it's hard to predict exactly where Irma will go. Because of that, the NHC is warning people in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas to monitor the storm closely and have a hurricane plan in place.