The storm gathered strength as it churned westward across the Atlantic on a path that will take it through the Bahamas toward Cuba.
Winds of 135mph made Ike an "extremely dangerous" Category Four on the five-step Saffir Simpson scale, the US National Hurricane Center said.
Computer models indicate Ike is likely to sweep into Cuba late on Sunday and might then curve into the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of this week's Hurricane Gustav.
Visitors have been ordered to flee the vulnerable Florida Keys island chain.
The storm threatens an area that produces a quarter of domestic US oil and the city of New Orleans, which was swamped by Hurricane Katrina three years ago.
Katrina was a Category 3 when it struck near New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005, swamping the city and killing 1,500 people on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The latest warning of this year's hurricane season comes after Tropical Storm Hanna drenched the US Atlantic coast.
Hanna killed more than 500 people in Haiti and has left half a million without shelter, according to aid agencies.
As of 2 p.m. Saturday, Hurricane Ike is just north of Hati, and just east of the southern Bahamas. Ike has top winds of 115 mph, with strong gusts to near Category 4 strength. Ike continues to move west-southwest, threatening the southern Bahamas and Cuba during the next few days.
Ike is under the influence of strong winds high up. These winds, called wind shear, is keeping Ike from gaining intensity. In order to imagine wind shear, think of putting a sock in your car's tailpipe. Obviously, you will choke and kill the engine. And a hurricane is that, an engine. If the wind shear is stronger, that would be like putting a thicker sock in the tailpipe. Right now, the wind shear is strong, but the engine is strong enough to blast through the sock; so, its effects on Ike are toned down some. The wind shear will weaken considerably as Ike moves towards Cuba in the coming days.
Right now, it looks like Ike will miss a direct hit on Florida. Perhaps even the Florida Keys will be spared. Northern Cuba, however, looks like it will bear the brunt of Ike. There are a lot of hills in Cuba. Ike will be largely impacted by these hills, causing it to weaken quite a bit. Then, Ike is expected to turn to the northwest, right into the Gulf of Mexico, that's the last place we want to see another hurricane.
Wind shear will be marginal by the time Ike enters the gulf. The ocean waters have recovered since Hurricane Gustav. As Ike moves northwest, it will likely gain strength. Ike could rapidly intensify. And, without the shear, we could see Ike strengthen more than Gustav--which was largely impacted by wind shear.
Ike is expected to be a major hurricane as it near New Orleans by Thursday and Friday of next week. There is still much uncertainty to its exact path, but it does look like another major storm will hit somewhere along the gulf coast later next week.
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