Hurricane Iona was expected to move westward and does not pose any land threat to the Hawaiian Islands, forecasters said.

The first tropical depression of the 2025 season in the central Pacific basin will increase the wildfire risk in Hawaii this week.

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. Iona is one of two major weather systems in the central Pacific Ocean.

The National Hurricane Center said some strengthening is expected, and One-C may become a tropical storm late Sunday. When it does, it will get the Hawaiian name Ione. It is not forecast to strengthen into a hurricane. The forecast track will keep the system moving due west, well to the south of Hawaii, so no direct impacts are expected.

A hurricane that developed rapidly Monday in the central Pacific Ocean was not expected to cause any issues for Hawaii, a federal meteorologist said, as Hurricane Iona trekked west over warm, open waters.

Downpours capable of triggering localized flash flooding will spread into parts of Louisiana and Texas to end the week. A budding tropical rainstorm may cause winds and fire risk to increase in Hawaii.

The weak disturbance moving across the northern Gulf is being stretched by hostile upper-level winds. The National Hurricane Center is giving it a slight chance of developing a circulation and becoming a tropical depression.

According to the National Weather Service in Houston/Galveston, the system remains disorganized, with only a 10% chance of developing into a tropical depression. Regardless of development, the disturbance is forecast to bring locally heavy rainfall—mainly along the coast—with totals of 1 to 2 inches and isolated higher amounts possible.