Iona strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane several hundred miles south-southeast of Hawaii, but poses no threat to the islands, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Tuesday.

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

Iona emerged on Sunday from a tropical depression and was about 1,440 kilometres southeast of Honolulu, the US National Hurricane Centre in Miami said.View on euronews