A weakening Hurricane Gabrielle is expected to spare Bermuda from destructive tropical storm-force winds when it passes the island Thursday night, and the East Coast will get little more than big ocean swells, forecasters said.
Forecasters said it appeared the storm center would pass 350 miles east of Bermuda.Gabrielle's top sustained winds dropped to 120 mph as it swirled north on a path far from the United States. At one point, the storm's winds topped 130 mph. Still, the storm was so large that swells of five to 13 feet were recorded more than 1,500 miles away, from Florida to Maryland.
Gabrielle is the largest and most powerful hurricane of the season, rating just below last year's Hurricane Gilbert, which ravaged the Caribbean with 155 mph winds.