hurricane bill update

Hurricane Bill update: Increases strength to category 4; predicted to get stronger.

NOAA/AP

A false color satellite image provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Bill at 12:15 a.m.

Hurricane Bill, upgraded to a Category 4 storm, tore across the Atlantic Wednesday with raging winds nearing 135 mph, threatening a possible strike near Bermuda in a few days, meteorologists reported.

"The wind sheer is light and the waters are warm," said Todd Kimberlain, a forecaster at the National Hurricane Center."Those are two essential ingredients not just for the formation, but also the maintenance, of hurricanes.Forecasters predicted the hurricane could get even stronger.

Early Wednesday, Bill was centered about 460 miles east of the Leeward Islandsand was expected to pass them later in the day or by early Thursday.It also could move directly between Bermuda and the eastern coast of the U.S.without making landfall.The most significant threat could be to Bermuda, which the storm could hit in three or four days, Kimberlain said.

Either way, people near the coast can expect wave swells and rip currents in the next few days, Kimberlain said.

Meanwhile, Ana, the first named storm of the Atlantic season, was downgraded to a tropical depression and dissipated before reaching Haiti and the Dominican Republic.