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As expected, Dean intensified into the season's first hurricane in the western Atlantic on Thursday morning and now poses a major threat to the central islands of the Lesser Antilles, Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan peninsula.The system's forecast track would take it well south of Florida, and it's unlikely that it will swing this direction, the National Hurricane Center in Miami-Dade County said.Because of a high pressure area to its north, Dean was taking a determined westerly course toward the Caribbean. It also was projected to intensify into a Category 4 system with winds of almost 140 mph within the next five days.At 2 p.m., Dean was about 275 miles east of Barbados, racing west at 23 mph with sustained winds of 90 mph, which is Category 1 status.Hurricane watches and warnings were posted for several islands of the Lesser Antilles, including Dominica, St. Lucia, Martinique and Guadeloupe.Under the latest projections, Dean would roll over the islands possibly as a Category 2 storm with winds of at least 96 mph early Friday. It would grow into a Category 3 with winds of at least 111 mph on Saturday and move south of Puerto Rico.It would then churn precariously close to Jamaica on Sunday, move south of Cuba on Monday and strike the Yucatan peninsula as a dangerous Category 4 early on Tuesday.That forecast could change, as forecasters try to get a better read on all the storm's atmospheric influences. A hurricane hunter aircraft will be dispatched to investigate the system this afternoon.Hugh Cobb, a hurricane center meteorologist, said the storm's fast forward motion hasn't inhibited it from strengthening. Hurricanes more commonly swirl forward at speeds under 15 mph.Cobb said it likely will maintain a brisk pace across the Caribbean."It might slow down a bit, but not a lot," he said.As in the days of Noah...
