East Coast watching Hurricane Sandy

(WTNH) -- As Hurricane Sandy moves northward through the Bahamas, residents up and down the East Coast are closely monitoring its progress.

Hurricane Sandy intensified to a Category 2 hurricane before making landfall over Cuba early Thursday morning. The storm has retained Category 2 strength, as maximum sustained winds were 105 miles per hour at 5 p.m.

The National Hurricane Center expects the storm to stay a hurricane as it approaches the East Coast.

Predictions then take Sandy towards the northeast, paralleling the coastline, before an expected turn back towards the northwest. This is where details still need to be ironed out.

Regardless of the exact track, the storm is very large in size. This means that a sizeable area could feel its effects, even well away from the center of the storm.

At this point, it is believed that Sandy will not threaten the Northeast coast until Sunday or Monday. This means there is still more time to pin down details.

Sandy has the potential to cause heavy rains, coastal flooding and strong winds, depending on what area it targets.

Stay with News 8 for more details.

Visit WXedge.com for around-the-clock storm updates and discussions