Residents in this area should regularly monitor updates to the forecast,” forecasters said. Its intensity, though, should drop from hurricane strength before landfall with drier air and stronger vertical wind shear present in the central Gulf of Mexico.

Rafael is forecast to reach hurricane strength later today and intensify into a high-end Category 1 or possibly a Category 2 by the time it makes landfall in Cuba overnight.

The National Hurricane Center said Tropical Depression 18 formed in the Caribbean on Monday, and is forecast to intensify into Tropical Storm Rafael and develop into a hurricane as it heads north