AlHijjah 20, 1435, Oct 14, 2014, SPA -- Hurricane Gonzalo strengthened as it moved across the northern Caribbean Sea toward the British Virgin Islands early Tuesday, and the storm was expected to become a major hurricane later in the day and threatens the British island of Bermuda, U.S. forecasters said. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said Gonzalo's center passed northeast of the British Virgin Islands early Tuesday before moving into open Atlantic Ocean waters north of Puerto Rico. Gonzalo, the sixth hurricane of the 2014 Atlantic hurricane season, was a strong category-2 storm with top sustained winds of almost 175 kilometers per hour (kph) early Tuesday. It was moving to the northwest at 20 kph. A major hurricane is considered to be category-3 or higher with winds hitting at least 178 kph. The storm was expected to turn to the north-northwest late Wednesday and move over open waters toward Bermuda through Friday. Most forecasts show Gonzalo posing no threat to the U.S. east coast as it moves further north in the Atlantic. "Folks in Bermuda are going to need to start paying attention to this thing," NHC meteorologist Dennis Feltgen told the Associated Press.
