The Bermuda Weather Service has issued a storm watch for the Island in advance of Hurricane Cristobal, which is expected to pass by the Island tomorrow evening.Already the bad weather has disrupted cruise ship schedules and the St George’s ferry service.As of 6am this morning, Cristobal had escalated from a tropical storm to a hurricane. It was more than 500 nautical miles to the Island’s southwest and moving north-northeast.The system is expected to pass around 220 nautical miles to Bermuda’s northwest at around 5am Thursday morning as a Category One hurricane.According to the National Hurricane Centre, this morning the storm boasted maximum sustained winds of 75mph (120kph) with stronger gusts. Hurricane Force winds were extending around 45 miles from the storm’s centre, while Tropical storm force winds were recorded more than 205 miles from the centre, primarily to the east.The Bermuda Weather Service has classified the storm as a potential threat to the Island, and yesterday afternoon issued a Tropical Storm watch, which means that tropical storm conditions are possible within the next two days.The public forecast warned of moderate to strong winds today, with gusts reaching gale strength overnight.Tomorrow winds are expected to range from strong to gale force, with gusts potentially reaching storm force the evening, decreasing to strong Thursday afternoon.The threat of Hurricane Cristobal has also caused significant disruption to the cruise ships leaving and arriving in Bermuda.Both the Norwegian Dawn and the Explorer of the Seas left Dockyard early this morning to avoid the storm.The liners were originally scheduled to leave Bermuda late afternoon.The Norwegian Breakaway, meanwhile, was forced to cancel her trip to Bermuda this week.The liner was scheduled to arrive in the West End on Wednesday and remain until Friday, but because of the bad weather the vessel will head to Cape Canaveral and the Bahamas and skip Bermuda altogether.The change of schedules, combined with wet and windy weather forecasts, caused the Department of Marine and Ports to suspend ferry service to and from St George’s until further notice.Meanwhile heavy rains on the Island have continued, with more than 2.5 inches of rain recorded yesterday alone, leading to some flooding in low lying areas.Including yesterday’s rainfall, just under 12.5 inches of rain have been recorded so far this month.