Tropical Storm Gabrielle path avoids major US cities as system strengthens in Atlantic

Tropical Storm Gabrielle formed Wednesday morning, September 17, over the central Atlantic Ocean, becoming the seventh named storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, with current forecasts showing the system will avoid direct impacts on major US cities. The United States is not expected to see direct impacts from this system, but it might churn up surf on the East Coast next week.

The storm's current forecast predicts that Gabrielle's track will carry it north of the Caribbean and away from land, but the system could reach Bermuda next week as it continues to strengthen, CBS News meteorologist Nikki Nolan said.

A map produced by Nolan shows Gabrielle's anticipated westward path through Monday, September 22, at which point it may be packing hurricane-force winds as strong as 85 mph. The storm could develop into a hurricane Sunday, September 21, as it passes near the Caribbean, according to the map.


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While significant impacts to the US are not expected at this time, rough surf and dangerous rip currents will be possible along the East Coast during the middle to late portions of next week, with Gabrielle forecast to track near Bermuda.

Current Gabrielle hurricane statistics and location

Gabrielle developed before 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, when the storm was situated roughly 1,000 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands and tracking northwest at 22 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory.

Its maximum sustained winds were 45 mph, just over the threshold that differentiates a tropical depression from a tropical storm. Gabrielle grew from a tropical depression in the Atlantic that meteorologists initially flagged earlier on Wednesday.

Tropical storm force winds extended outward some 175 miles from Gabrielle's center on Wednesday morning, the Hurricane Center said, adding that the storm's path and overall forecast remained "highly uncertain" as its center was still poorly defined.

Atlantic hurricane season activity below predictions

Gabrielle took shape about one week after what was historically considered the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs annually from June 1 to Nov. 30 and has in the past become most active around Sept. 10. Officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration initially predicted the 2025 season would be busier than usual and produce more named storms than an average year, but hurricane activity has so far been quieter than anticipated.

At the start of the season, NOAA's outlook suggested that between 13 and 19 named storms would form in the Atlantic, with as many as nine strengthening into hurricanes and as many as five becoming Category 5 storms, which are the most powerful. The agency revised the outlook slightly in August, predicting that the season would see 13 to 18 named storms, including five to nine hurricanes, two of which could be major.

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Of the six named tropical storms that have developed this year before Gabrielle, only one, Chantal, made landfall.