HONOLULU (AP) — Iona strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane several hundred miles south-southeast of Hawaii, but poses no threat to the islands, forecasters said Tuesday. Iona is one of two major weather systems in the central Pacific Ocean.

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

Hurricane Iona, the first named storm of the Central Pacific season, quickly intensified overnight into a Category 1 hurricane far southeast of the Hawaiian Islands, while a new tropical depression also formed in the basin.