Hurricane Earl, churning toward the Caribbean, intensified late Sunday and reached Category two strength, US government forecasters announced. At 0300 GMT, the storm's maximum sustained winds increased to 160 kilometres per hour with higher gusts, said the Miami-based National Hurrican Center. "Earl is a Category Two hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale," said the centre. "Further strengthening is forecast ... and Earl is expected to become a major hurricane by late Monday." The center of Earl was currently located 80 kilometres east northeast of Barbuda, moving west northwest at 24 kilometres an hour, the centre said.