Gabrielle strengthened into a major hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday but was forecast to remain far from land.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said Gabrielle’s maximum sustained winds increased to 120 mph, making it a dangerous Category 3 hurricane.
The storm was located about 195 miles southeast of Bermuda.
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Gabrielle had become a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday southeast of Bermuda before it underwent intensification in warm Atlantic waters. The storm’s path was taking it east of Bermuda.
Swells from the storm reached Bermuda on Sunday and were impacting the U.S. East Coast, from North Carolina northward to Canada’s Atlantic coast.
Forecasters said the swells were likely to cause “life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.”
Meantime, forecasters are watching two other disturbances in the Atlantic as of 9 a.m. Monday.
One, located between the Lesser Antilles and Cabo Verdes Islands, has a 70 percent chance of developement over the next seven days. The hurricane center says the area's environmental conditions are favorable enough to turn the system into a tropical depression by week's end. It is moving north-northwest.
Another area about 400 miles east of the Leeward Islands continues to produce disorganized showers and thunderstorms, the hurricane center said. It is moving west-northwest at 10 to 15 mph. It has a marginal chance of turning into a tropical depression over the next few days after it shifts more to the northwest, near the Bahamas.
