Tropical Storm Gabrielle forms, could become hurricane near Bermuda

Tropical Storm Gabrielle formed in the central Atlantic early Sept. 17, ending an unusual nearly three week lull in cyclone activity during the peak of the hurricane season and prompting forecasters to warn that the storm could strengthen into a hurricane before passing near Bermuda. The National Hurricane Center said Gabrielle was first classified as a tropical depression at 5 a.m. EDT and upgraded to a tropical storm later that morning. Advisories since then have placed the storm several hundred to more than 1,000 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands, with maximum sustained winds reported between 45 and 50 miles per hour and a central pressure near 1006 millibars as the system moved generally northwest to west-northwest.

Satellite imagery and analyses showed Gabrielle was initially poorly organized, with an elongated, exposed center and deep convection displaced to the east. Forecasters said strong southwesterly winds producing 20 to 25 knots of wind shear, plus bouts of dry air and Saharan dust, have limited development. Those conditions are expected to fluctuate, however, and the NHC forecast calls for Gabrielle to encounter more favorable conditions later this...