Government has issued a storm warning for Tropical Storm Harvey which began affecting Bermuda today.

Maximum sustained winds of 50 knots are expected with the storm, which is expected to pass 14 nautical miles to the southeast of the Island at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

At 6 p.m. today, the storm was at 31.1 degrees North and 67.2 degrees west, or approximately 149 nautical miles west-southwest of Bermuda.

It was moving east-northeast at nine knots and packing winds of

50 knots, gusting to 60 knots.

Meteorologist Ian Currie said last night that it is difficult to predict hurricanes and tropical storms in Bermuda because the Island is a ?small target?.

?The track of hurricanes are very dependent on the set up of the atmosphere,? he said. ?You can?t say exactly where they are going to hit.?

?The current track of the moment (means) we will be in the strongest wind sector ? the northeastern part of the hurricane ? and we may see the winds increase,? he said.

The storm arose as the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) increased its predictions for the 2005 hurricane season.

It was originally predicted that there would be 12 storms or hurricanes but that has been upped to 21 storms and 11 hurricanes before the season is over.

Mr. Currie said that predictions are ?still open to errors?, but he encouraged Bermudians to prepare for Tropical Storm Harvey.

Boats should be tied down as well as anything else that can be blown around, he said.

The weather service will be updating its storm watches every three hours with a main update every six, he said.