NASA footage shows a 'potentially catastrophic' Hurricane Irma that could make landfall in Florida

A week after Hurricane Harvey made landfall, devastating Texas with torrential flooding, meteorologists are now intently focused on Hurricane Irma's dangerous growth and projected path.

The storm formed off the coast of western Africa last week and almost immediately started barreling toward the Caribbean Sea. Irma officially became a named storm on Wednesday and was classified as a hurricane on Thursday. Since then, it has gained strength from the moisture of warmer Atlantic Ocean waters.

From Monday through Tuesday, the storm metastasized from a Category 3 hurricane into a Category 5 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center.