Gordon (2006)

A tropical wave that left West Africa on September 1 organized into a tropical depression on September 10 about 470 nautical miles east-northeast of the Leeward Islands. The system became Tropical Storm Gordon on September 11, turned northward and strengthened into a hurricane on September 13, then underwent rapid intensification to reach its first peak on September 14. Gordon drifted, weakened and later re-strengthened as it moved northeast across the subtropical Atlantic, passed between the Azores islands of São Miguel and Santa Maria on September 20, and became an extratropical cyclone on September 21 west of Portugal. The extratropical remnant then moved into western Europe, looping south of Ireland before dissipating on September 25.

Gordon’s only direct interaction with land while tropical was in the central Azores. The storm’s center passed between São Miguel and Santa Maria in the Azores about 0900 UTC on September 20; hurricane-force wind gusts affected Santa Maria. Tropical storm and hurricane watches and warnings were issued for the Azores beginning September 18 and upgraded to a hurricane warning early on September 19; warnings for the Azores were discontinued on September 20 as the system moved away and weakened.

The hurricane’s maximum sustained winds peaked at 105 knots (about 120 mph) with a minimum central pressure of 955 mb, making Gordon a Category 3 hurricane at its peak on September 14. It maintained that peak intensity for roughly 24 hours while centered about 500 nautical miles east-southeast of Bermuda. A secondary peak of about 90 knots (approximately 105 mph) occurred on September 19 when Gordon was west-southwest of the Azores.

Measured storm effects included a peak wind gust of 71 kt (about 82 mph) recorded at Santa Maria in the Azores, and a recorded minimum sea level pressure of 990.9 mb at Santa Maria on September 20. During the extratropical phase, a gust of 99 kt (about 114 mph) was reported at an elevated site on the northwest coast of Spain; BBC reports indicated gusts up to about 70 kt in southwestern England. No detailed storm surge measurements are given for U.S. units in the report for Atlantic coasts, though observational tables list storm tide and surge fields; reported impacts in the Azores were mostly fallen trees and power outages, and heavy rain and high winds affected parts of Spain, England and Ireland.

There were no reported casualties from Gordon while it was a tropical cyclone. After it became extratropical, four injuries from falling debris were reported in Spain, and one injury plus about 126,000 homes without power were reported in Northern Ireland; Spanish utilities reported about 100,000 customers without power. Damage in the Azores was described as minor. Forecasts had larger-than-average track and intensity errors at longer lead times for this storm; forecasters did not anticipate the timing of genesis well and did not predict the re-intensification of Gordon at higher latitudes.