Bill's Track Shifts Westward -- Wednesday Morning Update

Hurricane Bill is a strong hurricane with 135 mph winds as of Wednesday morning. This makes Bill a category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

The latest forecast from the NHC has shifted the forecast track of Bill slightly westward, but still curving away from the U.S. Most models continue to turn Bill away from the U.S. while some may have it clip New England.

In the graphic on the left the solid white light represents the official NHC forecast. The smaller colored lines represent the various forecast models.

Remember, these are forecast models. Just because they say something will happen doesn't mean you can take it to the bank. Having said that, Bill doesn't have to necessarily make landfall in the northeast in order for its effects to be felt. It's a large storm and could still bring precipitation and even gusty winds to the northeastern U.S. if it's a strong and large enough storm by the time it moves that far north.

Bill Increases to Category 2 Storm -- Tuesday Morning Update

The winds in Hurricane Bill have increased to 100 mph making it a category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The storm is forecast to become a major -- category 3 -- storm over the next few days as it should turn away from the United States.

Meanwhile, we continue to watch the Caribbean as what is left over from Ana continues to quickly move westward. Ana is no longer a tropical cyclone but she's already re-developed once, so we'll continue to watch the Caribbean to be sure that we are in fact done with that storm.

Original Blog:

Mother Nature was busy this past weekend. We went from zero to three tropical systems in the Atlantic at once, with our first hurricane of the 2009 season.

Tropical Storm Ana re-developed after dissipating last week and will likely weaken is it moves across the mountainous islands of the Caribbean. Even if Ana is not a tropical system, it could move into the Gulf of Mexico within the next week.

Hurricane Bill is still in the open Atlantic and could become a major hurricane over the next couple of days. The first hurricane of the season, Bill is forecast to curve away from the United States over the next week.

Claudette quickly developed over the weekend from a weather system that was initially moving away from the United States. Claudette made landfall as a tropical storm along the Florida panhandle early Monday morning and has weakened to a tropical depression. It will be simply be a rain maker for the southeastern U.S. and could throw some moisture our away, enhancing rain chances in the Brazos Valley.

Of all three systems, Bill is the only one likely to still be with us by Tuesday.

We've been tracking Ana and what is now Bill over the past week. Click here for a previous blog on both systems.