Hurricane Katia lost some strength early Monday but still had winds of 160 kilometers per hour (kph) as it moved northwest across the Atlantic Ocean toward the eastern United States. Forecasters expect the Category-2 hurricane to strengthen into a major hurricane by Tuesday At 0900 GMT, Katia was about 650 kilometers north of the northern Caribbean islands and about 975 kilometers south-southeast of Bermuda, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Monday. The storm was moving northwest at about 19 kph. Hurricane-force winds of at least 119 kph extended 72 kilometers from the storm's center. Katia's tropical-storm-force winds-blowing consistently between 63 and 118 kph-could be felt up to 300 kilometers from the center. "Large swells generated by Katia are expected to affect most of the east coast of the United States, Bermuda, the Greater Antilles, and east-facing beaches of the Bahamas during the next few days," the NHC said. "These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip-current conditions." Most computer models show the center of Katia largely missing the eastern United States as it eventually moves northward, parallel to the east coast.
