President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump

Storm expected to reach Category 4 by Wednesday.

meet people affected by Hurricane Harvey during a visit to the NRG Center in Houston on Saturday. He lifted this girl into his arms to give her a kiss. The Trumps also surveyed some of the damage in Lake Charles, La., later Saturday.

Hurricane Irma fell to Category 2 strength Saturday morning, but will likely regain strength in the next few days as its intensity continues to fluctuate, forecasters said.

A National Hurricane Center advisory said Irma’s sustained winds had continued to drop to 110 mph with some higher gusts, but that the storm is expected to remain powerful throughout the weekend, and may be verging on Category 4 strength — with sustained winds of at least 130 mph — by Wednesday as it nears the Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico.

The storm is beginning to make an expected turn to the west-southwest due to a high pressure ridge, and should turn toward the northwest when it reaches the end of that ridge, forecasters said.

Though models predicting the hurricane’s path agree on the overall scenario, forecasters noted that the best-performing models still have about a 200-mile north-south spread on the fifth day.

Hurricane Irma’s core also appears to be compact, forecasters said. A ship passed within 50 miles to the west of the storm’s center and reported winds of about 45 mph, and tropical storm force winds associated with the storm extend at most about 60 miles.

The Hurricane Center said the storm could grow as it gains strength. It cautioned that it is still too early to determine whether Irma will affect the U.S. mainland.

SUSAN WALSH / AP