UPDATED

The United States government has this morning (NZT) deployed a Hurricane Hunter (Lockheed Orion) aircraft to fly directly into Hurricane Bill to acquire as much weather data possible.

In the past few hours Bill has strengthened even further with sustained winds now at 175km/h.  Bill remains a category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale and is predicted to grow into a “major hurricane” within the next “day or so” according to America’s National Hurricane Centre.

Hurricane Hunters fly directly through the eye wall and through the storm to record more specific weather data such as wind speed and air pressure.  By flying in to the storm readings are far more accurate. This is usually only done when a storm threatens America.

Hurricane Bill is predicted to hit anywhere between Bermuda and the eastern United States.  Most computer models don’t show a direct hit to America and the most likely track will take it just to the west of Bermuda.  The storm could be devastating for the small tourist islands.

Meanwhile there are growing concerns about the remnants of Tropical Storm Ana.  Yesterday Ana officially ‘died’ when the low stopped rotating.  The low, which was originally supposed to head north into the central Atlantic, has instead been slowly drifting towards the Gulf of Mexico.  The band of rain and thunderstorms could start spinning again once it reaches the warm waters near Florida and Louisiana.