Joyce, Isaac both now hurricanes

Hurricane Isaac, left and Hurricane Joyce

MIAMI, Florida (Reuters) -- Tropical Storm Joyce strengthened to a hurricane Wednesday, one of two hurricanes that threatened shipping in the open Atlantic but posed no immediate danger to land, forecasters said.

Joyce, the sixth hurricane of the Atlantic season, charged toward the islands of the southeastern Caribbean while Isaac, the fifth, regained some strength on a course that could take it near Bermuda.

At 5 a.m. EDT Thursday, Joyce was centered about 1,135 miles (1,830 km) east of the Windward Islands of the Caribbean at latitude 12.5 north and longitude 42.7 west, and was headed west at about 12 mph (19 km/h) , the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

CURRENT ISAAC INFO Click here for the latest Isaac information     CURRENT JOYCE INFO Click here for the latest Joyce information

Joyce's maximum winds reached 90 mph (150 km/h) Wednesday night after crossing the 74 mph threshhold of hurricane strength during the day. But it was not expected to affect the Caribbean islands for another three or four days.

Isaac's center was about 925 miles, (1,490 km/h) miles east-southeast of Bermuda at latitude 24.4 north, longitude 52.4 west as of 5 a.m. EDT Thursday, the hurricane center said.

Its top winds were near 120 mph (195 km/h) and it was expected to strengthen further through Thursday. It was moving northwest at about 16 mph (26 km/h), forecasters said.

The storm was expected to stay on roughly the same track, forecasters said.

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