Hurricane Bill reaches Category 4 strength
NEW: Bill gets bigger, with hurricane-force winds extending 80 miles from center
Forecast shows Bill missing Bermuda before looping away from U.S. East Coast
No computer models show Bill posing a major danger to the United States
August 19, 2009 -- Updated 1610 GMT (0010 HKT)Next Article in World »
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Hurricane Bill strengthened into a powerful Category 4 storm early Wednesday as it churned far from land with maximum sustained winds near 135 mph.
Hurricane Bill was about 380 miles east of the Leeward Islands at 11 a.m. ET Wednesday.
At 11 a.m. ET, Bill was centered about 380 miles east-northeast of the Leeward Islands, and about 1,080 miles south-southeast of Bermuda, according to the National Hurricane Center.
"It's a little too early to evaluate what kind of direct impact Bill may have," senior hurricane specialist Jack Bevin with the National Hurricane Center told CNN. "Most of the computer guidance has the storm passing between Bermuda and the U.S. coastline, then turning northeastward." Although Bermuda may avoid a direct hit, Bevin cautions Hurricane Bill is a very large storm and is generating a lot of waves and swells.
The National Hurricane Center doesn't expect Hurricane Bill to impact the southern United States. For the northeastern coastline, it's still too early to tell. Some forecasts bring the storm very close, but Bevin says, "Other models turn it more sharply out to sea and not have it affect anybody."
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Forecasters expected Bill to maintain its intensity, while turning more to the northwest on Wednesday.
The storm's five-day forecast map shows Bill missing Bermuda before beginning to loop away from the U.S. East Coast.
No computer models showed Bill posing a major danger to the United States. However, the models show possible landfall in the Canadian Maritimes, north of Maine.
Bill, the first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic season, was heading west-northwest at near 18 mph Wednesday morning.
At 11 a.m. ET, hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 80 miles from the center -- up from 45 miles at 5 a.m. -- and tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 175 miles.
