Hurricane Bill reaches category four

Hurricane Bill reached category 4  with top sustained winds of 135 mph on Wednesday, and forecasters said it could get even stronger as it howls over the open Atlantic.

The National Hurricane Center said people in the Leeward Islands should monitor Bill’s progress, though the core of the storm was expected to pass well to the northeast of the islands late Wednesday and early Thursday.

Early Wednesday, Bill was centered about 460 miles east of the Leeward Islands and moving west-northwest near 16 mph.

The most significant threat could be to Bermuda, which the storm could pass in three or four days. 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.

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 missed their island.

Forecasters had revised their Atlantic hurricane season predictions for this season after the first two months passed without any named storms developing.