/ Updated

By Erin McClam

Tropical Storm Danny was upgraded to a hurricane on Thursday — the first of the season in the Atlantic Ocean.

The National Hurricane Center said the storm’s winds had strengthened to 75 mph, just enough to clear the bar. Danny was about 1,100 miles east of the Windward Islands, days from posing a threat to land.

Forecasters said they expect Danny to remain a low-strength Category 1 hurricane as it jogs west.

It should reach the Lesser Antilles by Monday morning and bring drenching rain to Puerto Rico by Tuesday. By then it could be downgraded, either to a tropical storm or to a tropical wave.

It was still too early to say whether Danny would make it to South Florida before breaking up, forecasters said.

Erin McClam

Erin McClam is a senior writer for NBC News, responsible for reporting, writing and editing general news for NBCNews.com. Prior to joining the site in January 2013, McClam worked at The Associated Press, where he spent 13 years and was most recently financial markets editor. In that role, McClam was responsible for a team of five reporters and a deputy editor that covered the stock and bond markets, financial regulation and the nation's largest banks.

Prior to that role, McClam held a variety of jobs at AP, including being a national correspondent and an original member of its Top Stories Desk editing operation.

McClam lives in New York.