Paloma’s maximum sustained winds were 45 miles (75 kilometers) per hour as of about 10 a.m. Miami time, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on its Web site. The system was 75 miles northeast of Cabo Gracias a Dios on the border of Nicaragua and Honduras, and moving north-northwest at 7 mph.

“Strengthening is forecast during the next couple of days and Paloma could become a hurricane tomorrow,” the center.

The storm may dump as much as 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain over eastern Honduras, northeastern Nicaragua and the Cayman Islands before turning to the northeast on a path toward Cuba, the center said.

The government of the Cayman Islands issued a hurricane watch, which means winds of at least 74 mph are expected in the next 36 hours. Nicaragua and Honduras have issued a tropical storm watch for their coastal areas.

The center’s five-day projection shows the system crossing central Cuba as a hurricane and then moving over the central Bahamas and toward the open Atlantic Ocean early next week.