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by ERIN PARROTT
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With the 2025 hurricane season underway, forecasters with the National Hurricane Center (NHC) are monitoring Tropical Storm Gabrielle – which formed on Wednesday (September 17, 2025) and has the potential to strengthen into the Atlantic’s second hurricane over the weekend.
Earlier this week, we reported forecasters were monitoring Invest 92L – a broad disturbance in the central Atlantic – located just a few hundred miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands.
Now classified as a tropical storm, as of 5:00 a.m. AST Gabrielle was located at latitude 21.9° N longitude 54.8° W – or approximately 595 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands. The system was packing maximum sustained winds near 50 miles per hour with higher gusts, NHC forecasters said in an advisory.
Although forecasters anticipate little change in Gabrielle’s strength over the next 48 hours, the system is tracking west-northwest at roughly 12 miles per hour – with that motion expected to continue, shifting slightly northwest in the coming days.
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RELATED | ATLANTIC WATERS STIRRING
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Since Hurricane Erin – the season’s first named storm last month – the Atlantic has remained relatively quiet. Now, forecasters warn Gabrielle could strengthen, bringing wind, rain and dangerous surf to Bermuda, with potential impacts stretching to the Caribbean and the U.S. East Coast.
Though Gabrielle continues to contend with dry air and wind shear, AccuWeather experts described the storm as “poorly organized” – with the potential to weaken back into a tropical depression or rainstorm. Still, forecasters anticipate the system will regroup and strengthen over the weekend.
Luckily, its long-term path is projected to keep it far away from the continental United States.
“Interests in the northeastern Caribbean and Bermuda should closely monitor the progress of Gabrielle, as any shift in its track could bring wind and rain to the Leeward Islands late this week and this weekend,” said AccuWeather Lead Hurricane Expert Alex DaSilva.
While there are no coastal watches or warnings in effect, the advisory stated that tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 150 miles from the storm’s center of circulation with an estimated minimum central pressure of 1,004 millibars.
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FITSNews previously reported that forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had called for 13-19 total named storms this season – 6-10 of which were projected to become hurricanes and 3-5 of which were projected to become major hurricanes (i.e. with winds of 111 miles per hour or higher).
However, this year’s seven named storms – Andrea, Barry, Chantal, Dexter, Erin, Fernand and now Gabrielle – have the season falling just below the annual average to date. Last year, the tropics took forever to get cranked up – but when they did, the damage done was significant.
Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, in particular, caused massive destruction – leading to 2024 being the third-costliest season on record (trailing only 2005 and 2017) at $130.4 billion in total losses.
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In addition to immediate damage from Helene – which ripped through the Palmetto State on September 27, 2025 – South Carolina dealt with its aftermath back in the spring. Downed timber and fallen limbs caused by the storm helped fuel a pair of massive, manmade forest fires in the mountainous region of the Upstate in March and April.
Collectively referred to as the Table Rock Complex, those fires burned more than 15,000 acres in Pickens and Greenville counties prior to being extinguished.
FITSNews will continue to keep an eye on Gabrielle as it intensifies – along with any other systems that emerge during the 2025 hurricane season, which runs through the end of November.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Erin Parrott is a Greenville, S.C. native who graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2025 with a bachelor degree in broadcast journalism. Got feedback or a tip for Erin? Email her here.
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1 comment
Does anyone know why NOAA Weather Radio (WXJ20) on 162.4 MHz in Columbia has been off the air in excess of a week, now? If we were to have a weather emergency, the slack lack of importance given to getting it back on the air would possibly leave many citizens who depend on their Weather Alert radios for emergency alerts, in a bad situation.