Forecasters say Tropical Storm Katia is getting stronger and could become a hurricane later Wednesday and a major hurricane by the weekend.

The system is moving quickly across the mid-Atlantic and is still gaining strength.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm is still far out to sea and it's too early to say if it threatens any land area.

As of Wednesday morning, the storm was located about 985 miles west of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands and moving west-northwest at nearly 21 mph.

Its maximum sustained winds were measured at 65 miles per hour, just short of the hurricane threshold of 74 mph.

The Associated Press reported the storm's name replaces Katrina in the rotating storm roster because of the catastrophic damage from the 2005 storm that devastated New Orleans and the coast.