HURRICANE Isabel yesterday strengthened to a category five storm and moved to within 850 miles of Bermuda.

But the good news for Bermuda is that the system that has been dubbed a "super-hurricane" is not heading our way according to computer model predictions, said a meteorologist at the Bermuda Weather Service (BWS) yesterday.

Instead the system is on a course that will take it north of the Bahamas and its closest point of approach is predicted to be 500 nautical miles to the south at 9 a.m. on Sunday. And there is likely to be some extra swell off the island as a result.

"There's a high pressure to our north and that's likely to keep Isabel well to our south," said duty forecaster Declan O'Connell yesterday.

Isabel was producing maximum sustained winds of 160 mph, with higher gusts. Category five is top of the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.

Mr. O'Connell said the BWS was still gathering data on Hurricane Fabian to prepare a final analysis for the Government.

The equipment that monitored wind speed failed during the storm because water got into electrical circuits and the maximum gusts actually recorded by the BWS were 130 knots, with a mean wind speed of 105 knots.

"We will be collecting more information from Cable & Wireless and Harbour Radio, who also have equipment to monitor wind speed," he said.

"And Harbour Radio is situated in a more elevated position and they are likely to have recorded higher wind speeds."