Storm Gabrielle in the Atlantic Ocean has strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane.
Gabrielle reached that dangerous level earlier today, with sustained winds at 120mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
As of this afternoon, the hurricane was 180 miles southeast of Bermuda and was moving north at 10mph.
Gabrielle has intensified rapidly since forming into a Category 1 hurricane on Sunday.
The hurricane is projected to pass just east of Bermuda tonight and make a sharp turn eastward on Tuesday, away from the US and toward Europe.
‘With the eye of the hurricane passing about 175 miles to the east of Bermuda on Monday, the greatest impacts will be dangerous seas and surf around the islands,’ said AccuWeather’s lead hurricane expert Alex DaSilva.
‘Gusts to tropical storm force are possible.’
But its impacts are still expected to be felt in the country’s East Coast.
Life-threatening high surf and rip currents are forecast to threaten the coast from North Carolina up to New England through Tuesday, and could even reach Canada.
Gabrielle is the second named hurricane in the 2025 Atlantic season, which has been relatively quiet.
Erin was the first named hurricane this year on August 15 and grew into a Category 5 storm. It traveled along the East Coast and threatened to isolate the Outer Banks barrier islands of North Carolina.
While Gabrielle looks to spare the US based on the latest tracker models, the hurricane center is watching two other areas for possible storm development.
Storms are organising in the easternmost part of the central Atlantic and could likely become a tropical depression or tropical storm by mid or late this week. Forecasters see a high chance of the next named system coming from the region.
Simultaneously, thunderstorms roughly 400 miles east of the Lesser Antilles have a medium chance of becoming a tropical depression and could pass through the Leeward Islands.
The Atlantic hurricane season ends on November 30.
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