HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) — Florence, the first major storm of the Atlantic season, has weakened to a tropical storm as it heads for Bermuda, but forecasters say it will regain strength early next week.

At 6:00 am (local time) on Friday, Florence’s maximum sustained winds were 65 miles per hour and the storm, about 925 miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands and about 985 miles east-southeast of Bermuda, was moving west at seven miles per hour

“Tropical Storm Florence is expected to strengthen into a hurricane again in the next 48 hours.

“There is still uncertainty in the long term track but Florence is likely to be upgraded to a potential threat to Bermuda later today due to it coming within 400 nautical miles (460 miles) in the following 72 hours,” the Bermuda Weather Service (BWS) said.

Two cruise ships, the MV Sirena and the Norwegian Escape, have cancelled visits scheduled for next Wednesday, the Bermuda Maritime Operations Centre said.

The Emergency Measures Organisation, which is expected to meet on Monday, announced that public transport, schools and government offices would operate as normal that day.

Florence had attained Category 4 strength by Wednesday, when it was packing 130 mph winds, before it weakened to a tropcal storm on Friday, but was predicted to rebound as a Category 3 storm by Tuesday morning.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) predicted strong swells would reach the island on Friday.

Projections show a meandering course for a southerly pass through Bermuda waters on Tuesday, but the NHC said a variety of models were in play as wind shear jostled the storm.

Meanwhile, two other systems – one 650 miles west of the Cabo (Cape) Verde Islands and the other coming off the west coast of Africa have 90 per cent chances of cyclone formation in the next 48 hours, according to the NHC.