By Matthew Bigg
Reuters

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Felix could become a hurricane Saturday night or on Sunday in the Caribbean and may be a Category 3 hurricane by the middle of next week, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Saturday.

Felix had maximum sustained winds of near 70 mph (110 kph) and was moving west Saturday afternoon after skirting the Caribbean island of Grenada overnight. It would pass near or to the north of the islands of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao Saturday night or early Sunday morning.

“Felix could become a hurricane later tonight or on Sunday,” the hurricane center said.

A projection on the Weather Underground Web site for 8 a.m. Sunday showed Felix becoming a Category 1 hurricane on the five’stage Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane strength, meaning it would have sustained winds of at least 74 mph (119 kph).

“We are forecasting it to be a Category 3 hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean Sea by the middle of the week,” said forecaster Eric Blake of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.