Story highlights Hurricane Irma is a powerful Category 3 and has rapidly intensified

Irma is in the open Atlantic, and it's too early to know where it will hit

(CNN) While much attention remains on Texas and the destruction left by Hurricane Harvey and its historic rainfall, powerful Hurricane Irma is rapidly intensifying in the open Atlantic and poses a major threat to the Caribbean and potentially to the United States next week.

Satellite image taken at 8 a.m. ET Friday shows Hurricane Irma in the eastern Atlantic

With the storm still five days away from the outermost Caribbean islands and at least a week away from any potential US impacts, there is still a lot of uncertainty about where it will go.

The range of possibilities presented by the forecast models more than a week out literally spreads from Mexico to Canada -- and everywhere in between.

Good bet at a casino is an intense Hurricane Irma at Cat 4 or 5. But it's still red or black on U.S. impacts. Hope it's a "fish storm" pic.twitter.com/w6rWbbGVts — Ryan Maue (@RyanMaue) September 1, 2017

Irma was designated a tropical storm Wednesday morning, and by Thursday afternoon, it had strengthened into a large Category 3 hurricane, with winds of 115 mph.

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Such explosive strengthening is known as "rapid intensification," defined by the National Hurricane Center as having its wind speed increase at least 30 knots (35 mph) in 24 hours.

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