Miami.– Tropical Storm Igor has strengthened in the Atlantic Ocean and will likely become a hurricane later today, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The storm's winds have increased to near 70 mph and tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles from the storm's center. Igor is near latitude 17.1 north and longitude 37.8 west and it is moving toward the west at about 21 mph. Its position is roughly 720 nautical miles west of the Cape Verde Islands.

The forecasters say Igor should be northeast of the northwester Caribbean in about 5 days.