Katia becomes third hurricane to threaten US in six days

Winds of up to 75 miles per hour are expected

A third hurricane is set to threaten the US in the space of six days.

Katia, a storm off the Mexican coast, has strengthened into a hurricane, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

It is 185 miles (295 km) east of Tampico, Mexico, and has maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour (120 kph).

In the next 48 hours some additional strengthening is also forecast, the NHC added.

Models so far show it remaining in the southern Gulf in the coming days.

The news comes as tropical storm Jose was upgraded to a hurricane in the Atlantic, far east of Hurricane Irma, which is currently heading towards Florida.

Jose had been expected to become a hurricane and was following Irma in a path towards the Caribbean.

It is too early to determine if Jose might ultimately make landfall in the Caribbean, or in the Americas, as weather projections are difficult when storms are so far out.

Hurricane Irma on the other hand has been setting records with sustained wind speeds of 185 miles per hour for more than 24 hours. In doing so became the only Atlantic hurricane to sustain that powerful wind speed for so long.

Irma has clobbered hit islands with pounding winds, rain and surging surf and officials in Florida have called for evacuations ahead of the storm's expected landfall there.