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.

Iona became the first named storm of the 2025 hurricane season in the Central Pacific on Sunday evening local time. The storm was over the ocean southeast of Hawaii, with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour.