Tropical Storm Paloma grew to hurricane strength Thursday evening as it passed over the warm Caribbean near Honduras as the Cayman Islands braced for a strike.

The late-season storm intensified quickly from a tropical depression, and had sustained winds approaching 75 mph late Thursday. It was centered about 200 miles south of Grand Cayman, and posed no significant threat to the United States.

Cayman government officials issued a hurricane warning for the islands, which the National Hurricane Center said could receive up to a foot of rain as Paloma blows through this weekend.

The storm is projected to stay on a northern path Friday, but probably will turn northeast by Saturday, toward the Cayman Islands and Cuba.

Paloma's track would bring it near the Cayman Islands late Friday and onto the southern coast of central Cuba around midday Sunday. It is expected to cut through the island and over the Bahamas on Monday.

Paloma is tracking over warm water, and forecasters said it would continue to strengthen.

But the storm's window for intensification will close after Saturday night, when Paloma will encounter strong wind shear that could significantly weaken it.

Paloma is the 16th named storm of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, which will end Nov. 30. It is uncommon, but not unheard-of, for storms to take shape this late in the season.

Paloma's projected path looks similar to the 2001 path of Hurricane Michelle, the last major November hurricane. It struck southwestern Cuba as a monstrous Category 4 hurricane on Nov. 3, 2001, killing five people, dumping more than two feet of rain and causing almost $2 billion in damage.

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