Category 2 Hurricane Rina is expected to become a major hurricane Tuesday night as it moves slowly through the Caribbean, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
As of 8 p.m., Rina had maximum sustained winds of 110 mph as it moved west at 3 mph about 300 miles southeast of Cozumel, Mexico, and more than 600 miles southwest of Miami.
The storm is expected to turn toward the west-northwest Tuesday night, followed by a gradual turn north accompanied by a slight increase in forward speed by Thursday.
Tuesday's forecast cone included the Florida Keys over the weekend.
The actual track Rina takes could be close to the Keys, or western Cuba, or back into the northwestern Caribbean Sea.
The path will depend on the strength of the system when it turns eastward later in the week and how it interacts with a trough and frontal system moving through the Gulf and Florida.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula from north of Punta Gruesa to Cancun.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for Chetumal to Punta Gruesa, and a tropical storm watch is in effect for the coast of Belize from Belize City north and the Honduran bay islands of Roatan and Guanaja.
Rina was expected to dump as much as 16 inches of rain over the eastern Yucatan Peninsula.
