Story highlights Danny strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane on Thursday morning

Danny is still more than 1,000 miles east of the eastern Caribbean islands

Storm could reach Leeward Islands as Category 1 hurricane by Monday

(CNN) It took a while, but the first Atlantic hurricane of the year has arrived.

A relatively compact Danny strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane on Thursday morning, still more than 1,000 miles east of the eastern Caribbean islands.

Plenty could change in the next few days, but it looked Thursday as if the storm could reach the Leeward Islands such as Guadeloupe and St. Kitts and Nevis as a Category 1 hurricane by Monday, CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen said.

Danny was small for a hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said, with hurricane-force winds extending only 10 miles from center. Its maximum sustained winds were 75 mph, just above the hurricane threshold, Thursday morning.

They strengthened to 80 mph by Thursday afternoon and are expected to strengthen more over the next 24 hours, before weakening.

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