Hurricane Bill now Category 3 storm in Atlantic

**Dirty** · 08-19-2009 12:12 AM

By DAVID FISCHER

The Associated Press

MIAMI — Bill became a major hurricane far out in the Atlantic on Tuesday, with winds whipping near 125 mph, and forecasters say it could strengthen even further.

Graphic shows the locations and projected paths of Tropical Storms Ana and Bill

Enlarge photo

A false color satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Bill at 12:15 a.m. EDT Tuesday Aug. 18, 2009 in the Atlantic Ocean. Forecasters say the first hurricane of this year's Atlantic season has increased to a Category 2 storm with winds whipping at 100 mph. (AP Photo/NOAA)

Graphic shows the locations and projected paths of Hurricane Bill as of 11 a.m., Tuesday

Enlarge photo

This NOAA satellite image taken Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 01:15 PM EDT shows patches of scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms across the Central and Southern Plains as a frontal boundary extends from the Upper Great Lakes through the Southern High Plains. Meanwhile, areas of showers, heavy rainfall and thunderstorms near the north Gulf Coast. Elsewhere, the remnant energy of Tropical Storm Ana brings disorganized heavy rainfall and thunderstorms to Haiti, Cuba and the Bahamas. (AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND)

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The National Hurricane Center said people in the Leeward Islands should monitor Bill's progress, though the core of the dangerous storm was expected to pass well northwest of the islands late Wednesday and early Thursday.
Hurricane hunter planes found that Bill, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, had strengthened to a Category 3 storm Tuesday night.
"The wind sheer is light and the waters are warm," said Todd Kimberlain, a forecaster at the center. "Those are two essential ingredients not just for the formation, but also the maintenance, of hurricanes."
Bill was centered about 555 miles east of the Leeward Islands, moving west-northwest near 15 mph.
The most significant threat could be to Bermuda, which the storm could pass in three or four days, Kimberlain said. But it also could move directly between Bermuda and the eastern coast of the U.S. without making landfall.
Either way, people near the coast can expect wave swells and rip currents in the next few days, Kimberlain said.
Meanwhile, people in flood-prone Haiti and the Dominican Republic awoke to good news Tuesday as it appeared Ana, the first named storm of the Atlantic season, had largely spared their shared island.
The two countries that share the island of Hispaniola are vulnerable to storms, with many impoverished people clustered along rivers, but there were no reports of major damage from the remnants of Tropical Storm Ana. The system had been downgraded to a tropical depression and then largely dissipated before reaching Haiti and the Dominican Republic. but its rains were still considered a potential threat.
"The rain fell but it did not hit anywhere very hard," said Marie Alta Jean-Baptiste, director of Haiti's civil protection department.
Haiti is particularly susceptible to catastrophic flooding because most of the trees have been stripped away to make charcoal and clear farmland and the bare, mountainous terrain cannot hold back the water. A series of storms last year killed hundreds of people and left thousands struggling to find food.
Forecasters had revised their Atlantic hurricane season predictions for this season after the first two months passed without any named storms developing.
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Associated Press Writer Jonathan M. Katz in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, contributed to this report.
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August 18, 2009 10:55 PM EDT

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