Subtropical Storm Gabrielle Aims at N.Carolina
Date: 10-Sep-07
Country: US
Author: Michael Peltier
Gabrielle, the seventh named storm of the Atlantic
hurricane season, was about 255 miles (410 km) southeast of
Cape Lookout, North Carolina, at 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT), the
US National Hurricane Center said.
The storm packed sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph) with
stronger gusts after being upgraded from a subtropical
depression on Friday. Forecasters expected Gabrielle to
strengthen gradually in the next 24 hours, the Miami-based
center said in an advisory.
"Some strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours as
Gabrielle acquires more tropical characteristics," the center
said.
Given the region's cooler waters, forecasters had said
earlier they did not expect Gabrielle would become a hurricane.
Gabrielle's top winds must reach at least 39 mph (63 kph) to
become a tropical storm and 74 mph (119 kph) to become a
hurricane.
Tropical storm warnings were issued in parts of coastal
North Carolina up to the Virginia border, as Gabrielle moved
northwest at around 10 mph (17 kph). Two to 6 inches (5 to 15
cm) of rain were forecast for areas of the North Carolina
coast, the center said. Two- to 3-foot (30- to 90-cm) storm
surge was also projected.
"The system is beginning to move into a more favorable
environment for development as it moves to the northwest and is
expected to take on tropical characteristics through the day,"
the National Weather Service said in a statement Saturday
morning from Newport, North Carolina.
Increasing swells and high tides would combine to produce
dangerous rip currents along area beaches, the service said.
The agency urged residents in affected areas to stock
provisions and prepare for a loss of power.
Computer models showed the weather system would most likely
loop around to the northeast and cooler waters after reaching
the coast.
It was very unlikely, however, the system could reach the
top-rank strength of Hurricanes Dean and Felix, which slammed
into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula in August and Central America
this week respectively as Category 5 hurricanes on the
five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.
Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric conditions off the
US Southeast were nowhere near as favorable for tropical
cyclones as in the western Caribbean, where Dean and Felix grew
into monster storms, the hurricane center said earlier.
