Subtropical Storm Gabrielle aims at N Carolina

TALLAHASSEE, Fla, Sep 8 (Reuters) US forecasters issued tropical storm warnings in parts of North Carolina today as Subtropical Storm Gabrielle promised to intensify and bring rain and strong winds to coastal areas.

Gabrielle, the seventh named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, was about 410 km southeast of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, at 11:00 am EDT (1500 GMT), the US National Hurricane Center said.

The storm packed sustained winds of 45 mph (72 kph) with stronger gusts after being upgraded from a subtropical depression yesterday.

Forecasters expected Gabrielle to strengthen gradually in the next 24 hours, the Miami-based center said in an advisory.

''Some strengthening is forecast during the next 24 hours as Gabrielle acquires more tropical characteristics,'' the center said.

Given the region's cooler waters, forecasters had said earlier they did not expect Gabrielle would become a hurricane. Gabrielle's top winds must reach at least 39 mph to become a tropical storm and 74 mph to become a hurricane.

Tropical storm warnings were issued in parts of coastal North Carolina up to the Virginia border, as Gabrielle moved northwest at around 10 mph. Two to 6 inches of rain were forecast for areas of the North Carolina coast, the center said. Two- to 3-foot storm surge was also projected.

''The system is beginning to move into a more favorable environment for development as it moves to the northwest and is expected to take on tropical characteristics through the day,'' the National Weather Service said in a statement today morning from Newport, North Carolina.

Increasing swells and high tides would combine to produce dangerous rip currents along area beaches, the service said. The agency urged residents in affected areas to stock provisions and prepare for a loss of power.

Computer models showed the weather system would most likely loop around to the northeast and cooler waters after reaching the coast.

It was very unlikely, however, the system could reach the top-rank strength of Hurricanes Dean and Felix, which slammed into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula in August and Central America this week respectively as Category 5 hurricanes on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity.

Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric conditions off the US Southeast were nowhere near as favorable for tropical cyclones as in the western Caribbean, where Dean and Felix grew into monster storms, the hurricane center said earlier.

REUTERS PDT RAI2156