The first named storm of the season was slowly gathering strength yesterday and was expected to become a hurricane overnight.

Tropical Storm Arthur was about 220 miles south of Charleston, South Carolina, by yesterday evening and travelling north at about 11kph.

The Bermuda Weather Service said the storm was not forecast to come near the Island, but it would send a cold front this way, resulting in rain at the weekend.

Meteorologist Jeff Torgerson said: “The hurricane will pass well to the north and will not affect Bermuda.

“We’ll probably see rain later in the day on Saturday — by that time the storm will be 1,000 miles away.

“We can expect showers and possible thunderstorms in the evening and overnight on Saturday.”

Arthur had maximum sustained winds of 110kph with higher gusts yesterday evening, and winds extended outwards up to 130 kilometres.