The third tropical storm of the 2006 hurricane season, Chris, strengthened in the Atlantic Ocean late Tuesday as it approached the Northern Leeward Islands, the National Hurricane Center said.
At 0000 GMT, Chris packed winds of 95 kilometers (60 miles) an hour and threatened the British Virgin Islands, Antigua, Barbuda and St. Kitts and Nevis.
The storm was expected to later move on to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, the Miami-based center said.
Chris is the third Atlantic storm since last year's record-smashing season of 28 named storms, including 15 that became hurricanes.
US weather experts forecast that between eight and 10 hurricanes — as many as six of them major — would form in the Atlantic basin during the six-month storm season that started on June 1.
