Hurricane Bill Gathers Force Over Atlantic

The first hurricane of the season gathered force far out over the Atlantic Ocean and appeared headed on a track that could take it near Bermuda by this weekend, according to a report by Mike Esterl on www.wsj.com.



The strengthening of Hurricane Bill, along with the arrival of rapidly weakening Tropical Storm Claudette on the Florida coast and the formation of Tropical Storm Ana late last week, signaled that this summer\'s Atlantic hurricane season is beginning to heat up after a slow start.



Hurricane Bill was expected to become a major storm in couple of days, with winds topping 110 miles per hour. It became a Category 2 storm yesterday with winds whipping at 100 mph. The storm is expected to strengthen, possibly becoming a \"major,\" or Category Three, hurricane with winds of more than 110 mph in the next few days.



Early today, Bill was centered about 810 miles east of the Leeward Islands and moving west-northwest near 17 mph. Bill was a large system, about 300 miles across, so Bermuda faces a potential threat even if the Atlantic island avoids a direct hit. But where Bill will go isn\'t certain, but meteorologists said they don\'t project the storm to reach the U.S. at this point.



Federal forecasters only provide five-day forecasts for hurricanes and have difficulty making reliable projections of the storms\' paths beyond three days. Storms also can change direction at short notice.



Citing warm ocean water and light wind shear, Dennis Feltgen, a National Hurricane Center spokesman, said Bill was \"in a very good environment to continue to strengthen.\"



By this time last year, six named storms, including two hurricanes, Bertha and Dolly, had already formed. Tropical storms have winds of 39 to 74 mph; storms with higher wind-speeds are upgraded to hurricanes.



Federal forecasters predicted earlier this month that the 2009 hurricane season will be \"near-to below-normal.\"