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Isidore hovers off Yucatan
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Hurricane Isidore continued to drift westward across the top of the Yucatan Peninsula early Sunday, on its way toward becoming a highly destructive Category 4 storm -- possibly later in the day, forecasters said. "It is very possible for that to happen," Martin Nelson, the lead National Hurricane Center forecaster in Miami, said late Saturday. Hurricane Isidore, which is now classifed as a Category 3 storm, has maximum sustained winds near 125 mph. A Category 4 storm has winds reaching 131-155 mph, and typically causes extensive damage and massive flooding that could lead to large numbers of evacuations. By 2 a.m. ET, the strengthening storm was 35 miles north-northwest of Cabo Catoche on the Yucatan Peninsula's northeast tip. It's moving westward at about 6 mph, and the eye of the storm is expected to remain just north of the Yucatan's northern coast. The storm's center was not expected to make landfall on the peninsula, but NHC forecaster Eric Blake said that prediction was "not a certainty." "Right now, the strongest winds are on the northern side of the storm, so maybe they'd be spared the [worst] winds," he said. "But it would just take a small shift to the south to bring the real core of the hurricane over the Yucatan." Strong winds on the south side of the storm's eye are expected to batter the northern part of the peninsula over the next 24 hours. The leading edge of the storm was beginning to carry rain and north winds to the region, Blake said, and high waves were beginning to push over land. Could threaten U.S.Blake also cautioned that Isidore could take a turn to the north -- and threaten U.S. shores -- early next week. "For the next three days or so, we see it staying in the southern Gulf of Mexico," he said. "Beyond three days, there are some suggestions that it could make a turn and head north. But three days are a long time in the weather world." Ahead of the storm, hurricane warnings were in effect along the north and east coasts of the Yucatan from Tulum to Progreso, including the vacation island of Cozumel. A tropical storm warning was in place for the western Cuban province of Pinar del Rio, including the Isle of Youth. The storm has already dumped more than two feet of rain on Cuba and slammed the western coast with a storm surge of eight to 12 feet. Parts of western Cuba could get up to 15 inches more rain, as the hurricane's center moves away from the island nation. More than 250,000 residents and tourists in Cuba were evacuated from low-lying areas to higher ground Friday, along with thousands of livestock. Residents lined up outside stores to stock up on food, water, candles and batteries. Kyle hoveringMeanwhile, a subtropical storm far out to sea east of Bermuda began to slow its forward motion to the north late Saturday and is expected to veer back toward the southwest early next week. Subtropical Storm Kyle, forecasters said, could become a true tropical storm later Saturday or early Sunday. The storm is moving northward at about 2 mph and is expected to move erratically over the next 24 hours. Kyle's winds dropped to 40 mph at 11 p.m. EDT and the storm was 780 miles east of Bermuda, far from land. A subtropical storm is one that begins in mid-latitude, fueled by a combination of warm and cool air systems interacting with the Gulf Stream (extratropical storms) and by the heat of the water over which the storm travels (tropical storms). Once such a storm crosses into the tropics, it generally loses its extratropical characteristics and become a full-fledged tropical storm. This is the first year that the NHC has extended its naming conventions to subtropical storms.
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