Hurricane Irma is gaining strength in the Atlantic as it moves toward the Gulf of Mexico, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) announced Thursday.

Irma was upgraded from a tropical storm to a hurricane with winds from 74 to 110 miles per hour at 11 a.m. Thursday morning.

Irma is “expected to be an extremely dangerous hurricane for the next several days,” an NHC public advisory said.

Hurricane force winds currently circle from the storm’s cell to about 15 miles outside of it. Tropical storm force winds range 80 miles outside Irma’s center.

The Gulf Coast of Texas is recovering from former Hurricane Harvey after the storm caused massive amounts of flooding in the Lone Star State. The now Tropical Depression Harvey is moving along the coast of Louisiana.

While predictions are still vague, Hurricane Irma could subject the Gulf Coast of the United States to another round of high winds and pouring rain early next week, The Washington Post reports.

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