Sept. 22 (UPI) — Hurricane Gabrielle was expected to continue rapidly moving toward the Azores in the Atlantic on Wednesday, where the government has upgraded a hurricane watch to a warning.

The eye of the storm was located about 1,360 miles west of the Azores, the National Hurricane Center said in its 5 a.m. AST update.

It was moving east-northeast at a blistering 25 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph, a significant decrease from Tuesday when it was a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. As of Wednesday morning, it was a Category 3 hurricane.

The government of Portugal had issued a hurricane watch for all of the Azores, an autonomous region of the European nation, due to Gabrielle on Tuesday, but upgraded it to a warning on Wednesday.

A hurricane warning is generally issued 36 hours before the anticipated first impact of tropical-storm-force winds and is a signal that one should complete storm preparations.

“On the forecast track, the center of Gabrielle will approach the Azores during the day on Thursday, and move across the island chain Thursday night into Friday,” the NHC said.

Gabrielle had been traveling northwest and made a turn to the north toward Bermuda as it gathered strength last week. But the storm made a turn toward the east on Monday and passed east of the island Monday night.

Forecasters said Gabrielle was weakening and will continue to do so as it travels over the northeastern Atlantic.

The swells from the storm will continue to reach the U.S. eastern coast from North Carolina northward, as well as Atlantic Canada, the NHC said, adding that they are expected to continue through this week.

“These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” it said.

Gabrielle is the seventh named storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season.

Last month, Erin became a Category 5 hurricane with 160-mph winds spreading across a 500-mile area.