Tropical Storm Katia, located about 985 miles west of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands, is strengthening as it makes its way towards the Caribbean.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that the storm could become a hurricane later during in the day and was responsible for a large area of disorganised cloudiness and showers over the northwestern Caribbean.

“This system is expected to move generally west north west at 10 to 15 miles per hour across the northern portion of the Yucatan Peninsula and into the southern Gulf of Mexico during the next day or two," the centre reported.