Katia regains hurricane status far off in Atlantic

MIAMI — The National Hurricane Center says Katia has regained hurricane status in the open Atlantic.

Hurricane specialist Robbie Berg said Sunday that Katia has cycled on and off between tropical storm and hurricane status. He says the storm strengthened recently and now has maximum sustained winds of about 75 mph (121 kph), the lowest-level Category 1 storm.

At 5 a.m. EDT Sunday, Katia’s center was about 370 miles (600 km) northeast of the Northern Leeward Islands and it was moving 12 mph (19 kph) to the northwest.

Berg says Katia poses no threat to land over the next 48 hours, but he urged those on the East Coast and in Bermuda to keep an eye on it.