A tropical depression that formed early Saturday off the coast of the Carolinas was late yesterday afternoon gaining strength and rechristened Tropical Storm Claudette.

Hurricane-hunter aircraft from the US Weather Service's National Hurricane Center in Miami reported Claudette was almost stationary and appeared to be drawing energy from the 84-degree water of the Gulf Stream.

Last night she was sitting about 410 miles west of the Island and about 280 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with maximum sustained winds of 40 knots, Mick Rice of the Bermuda Weather Service told The Royal Gazette .

While Claudette's winds are expected to increase to 50 knots with gusts to 65 knots, she is not considered a threat to the Island.

Forecasters expect she will follow the same northeast track as Tropical Storm Bill, which by Saturday had developed into a category-one hurricane as it headed towards the Canadian Atlantic Provinces. But within 17 hours, Bill moved into colder waters and was downgraded back to a tropical storm.

Meteorologists forecast Claudette's closest point of approach will be 345 nautical miles north of the Island at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

WEATHER WEA