Hurricane Gordon Set to Weaken on Path to Eastern Azores

Hurricane Gordon is moving rapidly east toward the eastern Azores islands off the coast of Portugal, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

A Category 2 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale, Gordon was located 340 miles (550 kilometers) west- southwest of the Azores, the NHC said in an advisory today.

The seventh named storm of the Atlantic season is moving toward the east at 23 miles per hour and maximum sustained winds decreased to around 100 miles per hour, according to the NHC. It is forecast to approach the eastern Azores tomorrow.

“Additional weakening is forecast, but Gordon is still expected to be a hurricane when it passes near or over the eastern Azores,” the center said.

A hurricane warning is in effect for the central and eastern Azores, and surf swells generated by Gordon are expected to reach the islands today.

Showers and thunderstorms that are part of a tropical wave about 800 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands have about a 60 percent chance of developing into a tropical cyclone during the next 48 hours as it moves west at between 20 and 25 miles per hour, the hurricane center said on its website.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ann Koh in Singapore at akoh15@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at ptighe@bloomberg.net