MIAMI (Reuters) - Hurricane Bill, the first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic season, churned across open ocean on Monday on a broad track toward Bermuda, which it should reach next weekend, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The six-month Atlantic hurricane season, which got off to a slow start this year with no storms in the first 2-1/2 months, exploded into activity this weekend as three tropical storms, Ana, Bill and Claudette, formed in just over a day. Tropical Storm Claudette, which earlier on Monday came ashore on the Florida panhandle, soaking it with rain, weakened to a tropical depression and was moving over southern Alabama, the Miami-based NHC said. Tropical Depression Ana, moving through the northeastern Caribbean, was expected to reach the Dominican Republic later on Monday and could dissipate. But Bill was expected to strengthen. Forecasters now expected it to whip up into a "major" Category 3 hurricane by Wednesday, with winds of more than 110 mph. Hurricanes of Category 3, 4 or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale are the most destructive type. Bill was advancing quickly west-northwest near 22 mph, and this was expected to continue for the next 24 to 48 hours. On its most likely track, Bill would be well north of the northernmost Caribbean islands, while heading toward the U.S. East Coast, forecasters said. The NHC's five-day track forecast showed it reaching the area of Bermuda early on Saturday. CLAUDETTE MISSES ENERGY FACILITIES At 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), Claudette was located about 85 miles southwest of Montgomery, Alabama. Its sustained winds had decreased to near 35 miles per hour and were expected to weaken. Claudette had swept through the Gulf of Mexico but bypassed the heaviest concentration of U.S. energy platforms, which stretch along the coast from Mobile Bay, Alabama, to Brownsville, Texas. The Gulf is home to almost half of U.S. refinery capacity, a quarter of oil production and 15 percent of natural gas output. Oil companies were monitoring the storm but had not shut down production. The NHC said that at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), the center of Tropical Depression Ana was estimated to be about 70 miles south of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Ana carried maximum sustained winds of near 35 mph but could degenerate into a tropical wave later Monday, the NHC said. The system will likely be a mere remnant of the depression when it reaches the Florida panhandle later this week near where Claudette struck the coast. NHC website: www.nhc.noaa.gov/ (Additional reporting by Scott DiSavino in New York; editing by Pascal Fletcher and Eric Beech)

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