UPDATE: Humberto is now a hurricance.

Tropical Storm Gabrielle regenerated and bore down on Bermuda onTuesday while Tropical Storm Humberto strengthened to the verge ofbecoming the season's first Atlantic hurricane, forecasterssaid.

The burst of activity came right on schedule as theAtlantic-Caribbean storm season hit its traditional peak.

Gabrielle was about 30 miles south-southwest of Bermuda andforecasters at the U.S. National Hurricane Center said it wasexpected to pass over the mid-Atlantic island later Tuesday.

Its top winds had jumped to 60 mph, up from 40 mph earlier,and a slight further increase in strength seemed likely, theforecasters said.

They said Bermuda was already being lashed by rough seas, heavywind gusts and rain and several flights to the island had beencanceled in anticipation of the storm.

The affluent British territory has strict building codes andtends to withstand tropical storms without major damage.

Gabrielle first formed last week in the northeastern Caribbean,soaking Puerto Rico as it crossed into the Atlantic. It fizzledquickly, but regrouped during the weekend and became a tropicalstorm again on Tuesday.

On its current track, after dusting Bermuda, Gabrielle shouldcurve north toward Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, the hurricanecenter said. It was expected to remain a tropical storm until itapproached Newfoundland on Saturday.

Tropical Storm Humberto formed on Monday in the eastern Atlanticnear the African coast and brushed by the southern Cape VerdeIslands. It was about 245 miles west of Cape Verde on Tuesdayafternoon, headed northwest over open waters and posing no threatto land.

Humberto had top winds of 70 mph and was expected to crossthe 74 mph threshold to become a hurricane later Tuesday orearly Wednesday.

It is the eighth tropical storm of the Atlantic-Caribbeanhurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 andhistorically peaks on Sept. 10. But it would be the first this yearto reach hurricane strength.

The first hurricane of the season usually forms by Aug. 10.

Since the dawn of the satellite era in the mid-1960s, the latestdate for the first hurricane to arrive was set in 2002 whenHurricane Gustav made its debut on Sept. 11.

If Humberto reaches hurricane status after 8 a.m. EDT onWednesday, it will replace Gustav as the modern-day record holder,the forecasters in Miami said.