Hurricane Chris became the first hurricane of the Atlantic's 2012 season, strengthening off the coast of Newfoundland on Thursday morning.

The season's first hurricane does not pose a threat to land, forecasters said.

At 11 a.m., Chris was about 625 miles southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland, and was moving northeast at 20 mph. It had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph.

The Category 1 storm is expected to weaken over the next two days, becoming a post-tropical cyclone Friday.