Bermuda should continue to keep an eye on a tropical storm brewing to the south-southeast of the island, the Bermuda Weather Service said today.

According to its 6pm advisory, Tropical Storm Philippe is 1,157 miles from Bermuda and travelling west-northwest at 7mph but is expected to stay to our south-southeast as it passes.

Its closest approach to the island within the next three days is forecast to be 625 miles to the south-southeast at 6pm on Wednesday evening.

Philippe has maximum winds of 52mph gusting at 63mph.

A small craft warning is in effect for late tonight.

Alex Young, a BWS forecaster, said that an “upper trough should provide the buffer to keep TS Philippe a ‘safe’ distance to the east of Bermuda as it begins to migrate north. However, progress of this system will continue to be monitored closely in the coming days”.

He added: “Expect winds to occasionally increase 16 to 22 knots [18 to 25mph] overnight, especially in and around showers.

“It seems as though winds have increased a bit ahead of forecast and the current small craft warning may need to be amended.

“Latest OPC [Ocean Prediction Center] analysis has seas near 5ft to 6ft which has also initialised well with the global models. Expect seas to build to 8ft overnight and possibly briefly 9ft as per the UK wave model.”