Gaston surges to first major hurricane of Atlantic season

Hurricane Gaston has surged to a Category Three storm, the first major hurricane of the Atlantic season, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

Gaston, packing top sustained winds of 115 miles (185 kilometres) per hour, was about 580 miles from Bermuda, and moving west-northwest at five miles per hour yesterday, according to the Miami-based NHC.

"Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from the centre and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles," it added.

The storm was not an immediate threat to land, and was expected to remain at its current strength for the next 47 hours, forecasters said.

Storms of Category Three and higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale are considered major. They have top sustained winds of at least 111-129 miles per hour.

Meanwhile in the Pacific, Hurricane Lester had top sustained winds of 85 miles per hour. It was located 950 miles west-southwest of the Mexican peninsula of Baja California, and moving westward at five miles per hour.

While those two storms looked unlikely to threaten land, another tropical depression formed closer to the US coast, and based on early data appeared to have higher odds of moving toward the US coast in North Carolina, the NHC said in a 2100 GMT bulletin.