Hurricane Iona has strengthened into a Category 3 storm far southeast of the Hawaiian Islands. The NHC is also tracking more in the Pacific.

Hurricane Iona was expected to move westward for the next couple of days and stay far south of the Hawaiian Islands, forecasters said.

HONOLULU (AP) — Iona strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane several hundred miles south-southeast of Hawaii, but poses no threat to the islands, forecasters said Tuesday. Iona is one of two major weather systems in the central Pacific Ocean.