MIAMI (AP):
Hurricane Helene continued to gain strength as a category three storm potentially threatening Bermuda at the end of the week, while a tropical storm watch was issued in the Azores as Hurricane Gordon churned in the Atlantic.
It was too soon to tell whether Helene would hit Bermuda, but the storm, with top sustained winds of 115mph (185kph), was expected to be near the island Thursday night or Friday, said Hugh Cobb, a forecaster with the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
"It's a potential threat," he said Monday. "The question is how far west it will go before it turns north again."
Helene strengthened late Sunday into the second major hurricane of the Atlantic season and intensified even more early yesterday. Major hurricanes are those category three and higher.
At 5:00 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT), it was centred about 870 miles (1,400 kilometres) east-north-east of the northern Leeward Islands and about 1,015 miles (1,633 kilometres) east-south-east of Bermuda. It was moving north-west at 9mph (14.5km) and was expected to continue on the same path into today, forecasters said. No significant change in strength was expected in the next day.
Meanwhile, Gordon was in the open Atlantic, centred about 880 miles (1,410km) west of Terceira in the Azores and moving east near 28mph (45kph). Gordon, the other major hurricane so far this season, had top sustained winds near 90mph (144kph).
Gordon was expected to weaken, but forecasters have said watches or warnings could be issued as a precaution. Even if it did become an extratropical storm that gets energy from colliding weather fronts, it could still have tropical storm force winds.
Storm conditions soon
The watch means tropical storm conditions are possible in the Azores in the next 36 hours.
The National Hurricane Center's latest forecast for the Atlantic season expects between seven and nine hurricanes, a slight reduction from earlier predictions.
Scientists have said that weak El Nino conditions had inhibited hurricane development by bringing higher ocean temperatures that increase crosswinds over the Caribbean. The winds can rip storms apart or stop them from forming.
