A tropical depression located to the south-west of Bermuda has developed into Tropical Storm Joaquin.

The storm is not a threat to Bermuda at this time, according to the Bermuda Weather Service (BWS), however, a thunderstorm advisory and a small craft warning are in place.

As of 12pm today, the storm was located about 468 nautical miles south-west of the Island.

“Radar currently indicates a broad area of rain and showers with isolated embedded thunderstorms moving across the area with most of the activity in the southeastern, central and western portion of the marine area. This area of activity is moving from the south-east to the north-west,” BWS forecaster Fred Byrley stated.

Periods of rain are forecast for today, with heavier showers present this afternoon, decreasing overnight with moderate to strong winds that persist through the week.

According to the US National Hurricane Center, Tropical Storm Joaquin is in a relatively weak steering pattern, but a building short wave ridge in the northwestern Atlantic should allow the cyclone to drift west and then west-southwest.

“This pushes the storm in the direction of the Bahamas, but the deterministic and ensemble model consensus still shows a good likelihood that Joaquin will stop fairly well short of the Bahamas, and then begin accelerating to either the north or northeast,” the centre stated.

However, the centre’s website adds that confidence in the track forecast is very low. A US Air Force plane is expected to investigate the storm today.