View of Hurricane Dorian from Space

A camera on the International Space Station captured Hurricane Dorian as it bears down on the Bahamas and the southeast coast of the U.S.

weather forecasters said Thursday Hurricane Dorian is continuing to strengthen and could hit the southern U.S. coastal state of Florida over the weekend as a major storm with more than 200-kilometer-an-hour winds.

Dorian, with Category 1 winds of 140 kilometers an hour, largely spared the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico in the Caribbean, but is gaining strength as it continues on a northwesterly path over the open, warm waters of the Atlantic on a projected course toward the U.S. mainland.