Dorian upgraded! Hurricane will now slam into Florida with dire designation

Florida is in the crosshairs of one of the most powerful storms in recent memory, as Hurricane Dorian continues to pick up steam as it churns over the warm waters of the South Atlantic.

Floridians are no stranger to extreme weather.  Even when hurricanes aren’t battering her shores, the Sunshine State is one of the hottest and and most humid climates in the United States.  Now, as Dorian rolls into town, the citizens of our southernmost state are battening down the hatches like only they know how.

Unfortunately, fortifying Florida may not be enough as the powerful storm has now received a major upgrade in severity.

Hurricane Dorian became a potentially devastating Category 3 storm on Friday as it continued to churn in the Atlantic Ocean on its course to the southeastern United States early next week, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The storm’s maximum sustained winds increased to 115 mph Friday afternoon, the center said, pushing it to Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.

The hurricane posed a “significant threat” to the northwestern Bahamas and Florida, the center said.

As of midmorning Friday, Dorian was about 445 miles east of the northwestern Bahamas and its core was expected to move over the Atlantic north of the southeastern and central Bahamas on Friday and Saturday. It was then expected to move near or over the northwestern Bahamas on Sunday and be near the Florida peninsula late Monday, the center said.

The National Weather Service has previously stated that Dorian could reach category 4 strength before making landfall.

Predictions for Dorian’s path have the storm slamming into the US coast somewhere between Miami, Florida and the southern coastal regions of Georgia.