Forecasters say Iona rapidly strengthened into a hurricane in the central Pacific Ocean and is expected to continue trekking toward the west over warm, open waters well south of Hawaii.

Forecasters are now tracking two named tropical cyclones in the Central Pacific, as a newly-formed tropical depression has already strengthened into Tropical Storm Keli.Meanwhile, Hurricane Iona is maintaining its intensity as a Category 1 hurricane but is expected to strengthen further over the next day or two.

Hurricane Iona was expected to move westward for the next couple of days and stay far south of the Hawaiian Islands, forecasters said.