High winds and scattered showers are expected this morning as Tropical Storm Fiona passes just 22 nautical miles to the Island's east.

The Bermuda Service last night said the storm had weakened, but is still expected to bring the Island Tropical Storm winds in the early hours.

A Weather Service spokesman said: "There has been a little bit of weakening, but we're still expecting steady winds of 35 knots (40 mph), with gust of up to 45 knots (52 mph).

"The winds will be coming from a south, southeast direction until around 7 a.m. when the storm is at it's closes point of approach.

"After that, we expect the winds to turn to the west or southwest, and they'll probably eke out quite quickly."

Scattered showers and thunder storms may also pass over the Island over the weekend.

While the seas are also expected to get rougher, forecasts suggest the seas inside the reef will not exceed two to four feet, with seas outside reaching ten to 15 feet.

"There will be a strong undertow, but the actual swells don't look as high as they were last week when Hurricane Danielle passed us.

"Overall, it looks like we'll miss the worst of it. It should be similar to a winter gale."

Airport officials said that Tropical Storm Fiona was unlikely to affect travel, but two Jet Blue flights on Friday were cancelled due to the effects of Hurricane Earl on the west coast of the U.S.