Tropical Storm Colin just after it regained tropical storm strength late on August 5. Colin is now forecast to bring heavy rains and gusty winds to Bermuda before it heads into the north Atlantic this weekend.

After barely winning its battle with upper level wind shear Colin was again classified as a tropical storm by the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida early in the evening of August 5, 2010.

Early on August 6 at 2:17 a.m. EDT, the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured an infrared look at Colin’s thunderstorm temperatures and noticed some high, cold cloud tops, indicating strong thunderstorms.

A Tropical storm warning is now in effect for Bermuda. That means a tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected within the warning area within 36 hours. By Saturday, August 7, tropical storm force winds are expected to spread over Bermuda, and large and battering waves, especially along the south-facing beaches are expected to produce flooding. In addition to the flooding from the waves, expected rainfall between 3 and 5 inches may cause inland flooding.

At 11 a.m. EDT/AST on August 6, Tropical Storm Colin’s maximum sustained winds were back up to 45 mph and an increase in strength is possible especially tonight and Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center. Colin’s center was located near 27.1 North and 66.9 West. He was moving to the east-northeast near 7 mph. That track would bring Colin’s center just west of Bermuda (putting the strongest northeast quadrant of the storm over Bermuda). However, a slight change in track could bring Colin’s center over the island.

Yesterday Colin has grown in size. As a result of the storm’s growth, tropical storm-force winds now extend up to 105 miles from the center, making the storm up to 210 miles from end-to-end. Minimum central pressure is 1007 millibars.