The National Hurricane Center advised the island of Bermuda to monitor Tropical Storm Gabrielle as it travels through the Atlantic Ocean. Photo courtesy of the NOAA
Tropical Storm Gabrielle was “poorly organized” Wednesday night, hours after it formed over the open Atlantic Ocean, the National Hurricane Center said.
The storm is expected to strengthen to hurricane force over the weekend, but the NHC has repeatedly pushed back the timeline on this forecast. In its 11 p.m. EST update, the agency said Tropical Storm Gabrielle could become a hurricane Sunday evening.
The eye of the storm was about 895 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands. Gabrielle had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and was moving west-northwest at 16 mph.
The NHC said strong westerly wind shear and dry air was inhibiting Gabrielle from intensifying.
The NHC said it expects little strengthening of Gabrielle over the next 48 hours but warned the people of Bermuda to monitor the storm. No weather watches or warnings were in effect Wednesday night.
Tropical Storm Gabrielle is the Atlantic hurricane season’s seventh named storm after Tropical Storms Andrea, Barry, Chantal, Dexter and Ferdinand, and Hurricane Erin.
