While everything is calm in the Atlantic for now, Hurricane Kristy has become a category 4 According to the National Hurricane Center, a hurricane struck in the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday and is expected to continue to strengthen.

Kristy was located about 710 miles south-southwest of the southern tip of Baja, California, as of 6 p.m. ET and is expected to move further west over the next day or two, according to a statement from the hurricane center on Wednesday. A gradual turn towards the west-northwest and northwest is expected on Friday and into the weekend.

The storm's maximum sustained winds were around 155 mph with stronger gusts Wednesday evening, and “further steady to rapid strengthening is expected” over the next day or so, the NHC said. The gradual weakening is expected to begin on Friday.

The storm was expected to continue moving over open waters, but waves caused by Kristy will affect parts of the western coast of the Baja California peninsula later this week, the hurricane center said. These waves would “likely result in life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” they said.

Hurricane Kristy Path Tracker

This forecast track shows the most likely path of the storm center. It does not show the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is expected to move outside the cone up to 33% of the time.

Hurricane Kristy spaghetti models

The figures cover a range of forecasting tools and models, and not all are created equal. The hurricane center only uses the four or five best-performing models in its forecasts.

This story has been updated to add new information.

Gabe Hauari is a nationally featured news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hurricane Kristy Tracker: See path, spaghetti models of storm