Iona strengthened to a Category 3 hurricane several hundred miles south-southeast of Hawaii, but poses no threat to the islands, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said Tuesday. Iona is one of two major weather systems in the central Pacific Ocean.

The hurricane is centred well south of Hawaii, and an indirect impact will be downward pressure winds from the hurricane, creating dry and breezy conditions.

Hurricane Iona, the first named storm of the Central Pacific season, quickly intensified overnight into a Category 1 hurricane far southeast of the Hawaiian Islands, while a new tropical depression also formed in the basin.