By KRYSTEL ROLLE, Guardian Staff Reporter

Just days after Hurricanes Fay and Gustav by-passed The Bahamas, another system in the Atlantic Ocean is threatening to affect the islands by next week, forecasters warned.

By that time though, meteorologist Michael Stubbs said Tropical Storm Hanna would probably strengthen into a hurricane.

Hanna, which was packing winds up to 50 miles per hour late last night, was moving parallel to The Bahamas - a pattern that was expected to continue over the next several days.

However, projected forecasts suggest that the system would take a more westerly track, bringing it towards the northwestern islands of The Bahamas.

Hanna, which was a Tropical Depression early yesterday morning, quickly strengthened to become a tropical storm by the afternoon.

Asked if the storm was likely to develop further, Smith said: "It will certainly gain strength. It advanced in terms of an intensity in a very short time from a depression to a tropical storm. So, the likelihood of it becoming a hurricane is very great."

At 5 p.m. Thursday the center of Hanna was located near 20.7 N and 60.1 W or 260 miles northeast of the northern Leward Islands or about 1160 miles east-southeast of Nassau. Maximum sustained winds were at 40 miles per hour with gusts to 50 miles per hour. Hanna was moving west-northwest at 12 miles per hour and this general motion was expected to continue for at least the next 24 hours.

According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center, Hanna was expected to move away from the Leeward Islands and nearer to the northwest Bahamas in the next couple days.

"Presently, Tropical Storm Hanna is a cause of concern for The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands. We are currently monitoring the movement and the development of Tropical Storm Hanna because most of the weather modules are indicating the path that it will take is close to the archipelago of The Bahamas. And if everything holds, it may affect or impact the northwestern part of the country," said Stubbs.

"That is the islands of Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Abaco, Andros and New Providence. So we are really concerned about it. But of course we will continue to monitor the system to see exactly what is going to happen, and to see if there is going to be any change. The potential for harm from this system may not occur until Sunday or Monday. But of course, this is preliminary," he emphasized.

Stubbs said heavy rain and thunderstorms should be expected in the coming days for those islands.

Meantime, meteorologist Arnold King said Bahamians should continue to prepare for hurricane-like situations as the season is already proving to be a very active one.

This is the eighth-named system for the Atlantic Hurricane Season, which began June 1.

Hanna developed just days after Hurricanes Gustav and Fay.

Both systems missed The Bahamas. The hurricane season ends November 30.