UPDATE (11:00 p.m.) -- Hurricane Matthew's peak winds increased to 80 mph, as the center of the system is located about 600 miles east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. The hurricane is moving at a slower pace, still to the west, at 14 mph.
The hurricane's future path, according to the National Hurricane Center, still indicates a turn to the north, in the general direction of Cuba and the Bahamas.
MIDWAY, Fla. (WTXL) -- Matthew intensified into a hurricane Thursday afternoon, with increased chances for direct impacts in some Caribbean islands through the rest of this week.
The storm's highest winds are reaching 75 mph, with occasional gusts to 90 mph. The hurricane is still moving west at 17 mph.
The forecast suggests Matthew will remain in the open Caribbean through Saturday, then begin a turn to the north into early next week. While this scenario reduces the risk of direct impacts from the hurricane in the western Caribbean and southern Gulf of Mexico, it enhances chances for a landfalling storm in some of the larger islands of the Greater Antilles such as Cuba and Hispaniola.
An upper low over the Southeastern U.S. may help keep Matthew on a course over the western Atlantic early next week. However, the system may create, at least, rough surf along the Atlantic shore. Long-range outlooks vary in forecast movement, and range from land impacts in the mid-Atlantic to a push out into the open sea.
It's still a bit early to make conclusions about where Matthew may ultimately go, or how far it stays away from the coastline of the Atlantic shore. However, the newest computer guidance tend to agree on a lower (but non-zero) risk for the hurricane to reach the Gulf area.
Matthew is the fifth hurricane to form in the Atlantic basin since the beginning of the year.