Hurricane Rafael's maximum sustained winds increased to 175 kilometers per hour (km/h) and it could enter Cuba today as a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

Washington.- This phenomenon should enter Cuba around noon through the south of the western province of Artemisa, with a slight movement to the west near Playa Majana.

The United States National Hurricane Center (NHC) specified in the latest report that the meteorological event is located about 95 kilometers southeast of the Isle of Youth at a speed of 22 km/h.

It also indicated that at 10:00 local time, the center of the meteor was located near latitude 21.4 North and longitude 81.9 West.

The NHC said Hurricane Rafael will move northwestward during the next few hours and then gradually turn west-northwest in the Gulf of Mexico.

It also warns that, on the forecast track, the cyclone is expected to move near or just east of the Isle of Youth during the next few hours, make landfall in western Cuba this afternoon, and then move southeast of the Gulf of Mexico tonight.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 30 kilometers (km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 185 km.

With a minimum pressure of 960 hPA, Rafael will weaken over Cuba but is expected to emerge as a hurricane in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. (PL)