and may begin influencing local weather by Sunday afternoon, a weather forecaster said last night.

Tropical Storm Felix was 1,493 nautical miles southeast of Bermuda last night and could be upgraded to a hurricane by tomorrow afternoon.

Felix was upgraded to a tropical storm on Tuesday when maximum sustained winds reached 35 knots. At 6 p.m. yesterday, winds had reached 45 knots with gusts to 55.

Last night Felix was moving west at 17 knots and could be 554 nautical miles southeast of Bermuda by Saturday afternoon.