Gabrielle came to within 175 miles of Bermuda late Tuesday and is now traveling well to the east across the Atlantic. While the powerful Category 4 hurricane is forecast to lose wind intensity, its next encounter will be the Azores Thursday before possibly reaching Spain, Portugal and France as a tropical rainstorm this weekend. AccuWeather meteorologists are also expecting the formation of up to two new tropical storms by the end of the weekend, and at least one could directly threaten the United States.

Gabrielle rapidly strengthened from Sunday afternoon to Monday morning, intensifying from a 65-mph tropical storm at 11 a.m. EDT Sunday to a Category 3 hurricane 22 hours later—a 55-mph increase in wind speed. A hurricane is said to undergo rapid strengthening when the central winds in

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