Hurricane Igor upgraded to Category 4 storm

Hurricane Igor strengthened rapidly over the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday, becoming a large and dangerous Category 4 storm as it spun menacingly westward.

Igor, capable of causing catastrophic damage, posed no imminent threat to land or energy interests, but it was expected to become a monster Category 5 hurricane Monday.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Igor was packing top sustained winds of 150 mph. It was moving west at 13 mph about 1,005 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands.

Computer models project Igor, which became the fourth hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic season late on Saturday, would stay in the Atlantic for the coming days and not enter the Gulf of Mexico.

Forecaster Jeff Masters said Sunday on his Weather Underground blog that Igor may threaten Bermuda but had only a small chance of making landfall on the U.S. East Coast or in Canada. He and other forecasters said it was still too early to make any definitive predictions about Igor's long-term path.

Behind Igor, the hurricane center said, Tropical Storm Julia had formed off the southernmost Cape Verde islands, off West Africa, about 110 miles southeast of the Cape Verde Islands and was moving around 12 mph to the west-northwest.

Julia is expected to strengthen and could become a hurricane this week. - AP with Reuters