Oscar strengthens into a hurricane in southwest Atlantic as watches, warnings expand for Bahamas, Cuba

Oscar rapidly intensified from a tropical storm into an 80-mph hurricane on Saturday, causing islands in its potential path to issue watches and warnings, ahead of the small but mighty cyclone.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Oscar is now expected to possibly bring hurricane conditions to portions of the southeastern Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands and Cuba during the next 36 hours.

The hurricane, previously designated Invest 94L, was barely hanging on to its prospects for tropical development Friday. But Oscar found a patch of warm water and atmospheric conditions to its liking, rapidly developing a well-defined center Saturday morning. 

Hurricane Oscar (FOX Weather)

In addition to the gusty winds, rainfall amounts of 2-4 inches with isolated areas to 6 inches across the region through Tuesday.

The government of the Bahamas issued a Hurricane Warningfor the Turks and Caicos and the southeastern Bahamas. The government of Cuba issued a Hurricane Watch for theprovinces of Guantanamo, Holguin and Las Tunas.

"The system will track west, near the Dominican Republic and Haiti, then stall near or over the southeastern Bahamas or eastern Cuba," said FOX Weather Hurricane Specialist Bryan Norcross. "It is forecast to linger there into Monday, likely as a weak system. Hostile upper winds will move in and whatever's left of it will likely be swept to the north."

The hurricane is one of the smallest cyclones on record in the Atlantic basin, with hurricane-force winds only extending outwards 5 miles from the center.

A Hurricane Hunter aircraft also determined the cyclone's eye was just more than 3 miles wide, making it one of the smallest features since Hurricane Wilma in 2005.

Oscar became the second named storm to get a name on Saturday, joining Tropical Storm Nadine, which was christened early Saturday morning near Belize.

TROPICAL STORM NADINE THREATENING TORRENTIAL RAINS IN BELIZE, SOUTHERN MEXICO

Could Oscar reach the US?

While the northern Caribbean islands monitor Oscar's progress, the storm remains no threat to the US. 

An expansive ridge of high pressure anchored over the East Coast is acting like a protective barrier, with a front at the ridge’s boundary providing hostile atmospheric conditions for any tropical systems to approach Florida or the Southeastern coast. 

Read more of this story from FOX Weather.