Hurricane Bill Now Category 4, Expected to Miss U.S., Bermuda

Latest forecasts indicate that neither the U.S. or Bermuda likely to be affected by Hurricane Bill, though Nova Scotia could feel the effects of the storm early next week, according to some scenarios.

During the last 24 hours Hurricane Bill has gone from Category Two to Category Four status but is expected to stay clear of the United States and Bermuda.

The NOAA's National Hurricane Center reported at 11:00 a.m. AST that Bill's maximum sustained winds are near 135 mph, with higher gusts. The Center says that the storm may intensify further during the next 24 hours. Currently Bill's hurricane-force winds extend up to 80 miles from the storm's center, with tropical storm-force winds extending up to 175 miles, primarily northeast of the center. The storm is currently located about 380 miles east-northeast of the Leeward Islands and about 1080 miles south-southeast of Bermuda.

RMS (Newark, Calif.) reports that all forecast models agree that Bill will veer away from the U.S. coast and remain to the west of Bermuda. The forecasts say that the chance of the storm veering far enough to impact Bermuda within three to four days is even less today than yesterday. Some models suggest that Nova Scotia could be impacted by the storm early next week, though there is a high level of uncertainty associated with such long-term projections, according to RMS.

Anthony O'Donnell has covered technology in the insurance industry since 2000, when he joined the editorial staff of Insurance & Technology. As an editor and reporter for I&T and the InformationWeek Financial Services of TechWeb he has written on all areas of information ... View Full Bio