MIAMI, (Reuters) – Hurricane Bill trekked west-northwest over the open Atlantic yesterday and was poised to develop into a major hurricane, but its forecast path seemed likely to miss the U.S. East Coast.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said that Bill, the Atlantic season’s first hurricane, was packing top winds near 110 miles per hour (175 km per hour), just one mph short of turning into a Category 3 hurricane.
“Bill is expected to become a a major hurricane tonight or Wednesday,” the NHC said, saying its center was located at 1700 EDT (2100 GMT) about 635 miles (1,025 km) east of the Caribbean Leeward Islands.
The hurricane center, which sent a plane to probe the cyclone’s swirling cloud mass yesterday, forecast Bill could strengthen to a Category 4 hurricane in the next 24 hours.
Category 3, 4 and 5 storms on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale are those likely to cause the most damage.
Bill posed no threat to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico oil-producing area. Its curving path was expected to take it just west of Bermuda, a mid-Atlantic British territory and reinsurance capital, by Saturday.
Bermuda authorities warned residents to be prepared.
Hurricane expert Jeff Masters, founder of the Weather Underground website, said he expected Bill to move between Bermuda and the U.S. East Coast toward Canada’s Maritime Provinces.
