Humberto becomes hurricane in Atlantic as Gabrielle threatens Azores

Miami, Sep 26 (AP) The US National Hurricane Centre says Hurricane Humberto has formed in the Atlantic Ocean but is not currently threatening land.

Humberto is about 750 kilometres northeast of the northern Leeward Islands and is moving slowly toward the northwest. It is expected to strengthen substantially over the weekend to become a major hurricane.

Meanwhile, the quick-moving Tropical Storm Gabrielle is churning near to the Azores, where a hurricane watch is in force for the entire Portuguese archipelago. At 0900 GMT on Friday, the storm was about 230 kilometres east-northeast of Faial Island in the central Azores.

Maximum sustained winds are near 65 miles per hour (100 kilometres per hour) with higher guests. The storm should beging gradual

weakening on Saturday. Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 260 kilometres. One observatory reported sustained winds of 78 mph, which would be hurricane-level.

The National Hurricane Centre declared Gabrielle post-tropical, a characterisation that simply means the system lacks typical “tropical characteristics.” But the threat of severe weather impacts still remained through on Friday.

Gabrielle is moving east-northeast at 29 miles per hour (46 kilometres per hour). It is expected to move away from the Azores in the coming hours and to approach mainland Portugal by Sunday.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic, Hurricane Narda is churning as a Category 1 storm but could regain strength to Category 2 later in the day. Narda is not threatening land and is expected to lose strength over the coming days. (AP) SKS SKS