OAK BLUFFS, Massachusetts (AFP) — President Barack Obama will travel to Boston late Friday night to ensure a looming tropical storm will not thwart his plans to attend Edward Kennedy’s funeral, the White House said.

Obama and wife Michelle, currently on vacation on the east coast resort island of Martha’s Vineyard, will stay in Boston overnight prior to attending the funeral mass for the veteran senator on Saturday morning.

White House spokesman Bill Burton said the president would return to the island weather permitting later Saturday, before leaving for Washington as scheduled on Sunday.

Obama is set to deliver a eulogy for Kennedy, whom he regarded as a mentor and a friend, at the mass, which is shaping up as a “Who’s Who’’ of political leaders from the United States and abroad.

Tropical Storm Danny was churning toward the northeastern US coast, with forecasters warning it could reach hurricane strength.

By 1500 GMT, Danny was packing top winds of 60 miles (95 kilometers) per hour, churning northwestward at about 13 miles (20 km) per hour, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Danny could become a weak hurricane on Saturday, the center said, with up to a 20 percent chance of hitting the northeastern US coast as well as the Canadian Maritime provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.