Tropical Storm Gaston continued to move towards Bermuda this evening, but the storm is still expected to miss the island.

According to the Bermuda Weather Service’s noon update, the storm remains around 870 nautical miles to the east-southeast of Bermuda and is moving north-northwest at 17mph.

While the storm is expected to strengthen, potentially returning to hurricane strength this weekend, forecasts suggest the system will make a sharp turn away from the island on Sunday/Monday.

Its closest point of approach is expected to be at around 9am on Monday, at which point it will still be 451 nautical miles to the east of Bermuda.

The BWS has said the storm was not considered a threat at this time. However, they did warn of the potential of building swells, which are likely to bring hazardous conditions and rip currents, especially along the South Shore.

This afternoon the Ministry of national security, Jeff Baron, urged residents to ensure they were prepared in the wake of a “particularly active storm season in the last few weeks”.

The Emergency Measures Organisation continues to closely monitor the storm.