NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory: Hurricane Michael Reaches Category 3

With maximum sustained winds of 115 mph, Hurricane Michael is the first Atlantic storm of the 2012 season to reach Category 3 intensity.

The storm is shown here in high resolution infrared imagery from the NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP satellite taken on September 6, 2012 at 04:22z. 

Hurricane Michael swelled to the first category three storm of 2012 early Thursday as it churned far from land in the middle of the Atlantic, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

As of 0900 GMT the hurricane was packing winds of up to 115 miles (185 kilometers) per hour as it swirled more than 1,000 miles southwest of the Azores archipelago, the forecasters said.

There were no coastal watches or warnings in effect, and the NHC said Michael may begin gradually weakening by Friday.

Hurricane Leslie, a category one storm cycling closer to North America, continued moving northward and was projected to pass over or near Bermuda on Sunday, but no warnings or watches have been issued, the NHC said.