Gerda later became a tropical storm after making a hard right turn and moving northeast and reaching hurricane status on September 8.

Gerda brushed past the Outer Banks of North Carolina before reaching maximum intensity of 120 mph (190 km/h) and a low barometric pressure of 980 millibars (29 inHg).

There were no fatalities or injuries from Gerda although planes at Otis Air Force Base were moved to their hangars and two ships from Naval Station Newport left their berth to ride out the storm.

On September 3, the disturbance merged with a dissipating upper-level low pressure system over Hispaniola and Puerto Rico and developed an increasing cloud mass as it continued westward.

As the system headed northeastward, hurricane hunter aircraft recorded winds of 45 mph (72 km/h), and barometric pressure fell to 1,000 millibars (30 inHg).

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center upgraded the system to tropical storm status and named it Gerda.

Gerda continued to move rapidly northeast in response to an approaching trough and the storm reached hurricane status on September 8.

Because the storm was interacting with the trough to the west and was moving rapidly northeastward, the result was the minimum central barometric pressure was an unusually high 980 millibars (29 inHg).

[4] Gale warnings and small craft advisories were issued along the coast of North Carolina stretching from Wilmington to Cape Hatteras.

[6] The approach of the storm also postponed a fair at a local hospital and planes at Otis Air Force Base were quickly moved to their hangars.

[11] Hurricane Gerda affected much of eastern North Carolina and New England with gusty rain and heavy rainfall causing minor to moderate damage.

[6] In Fitchburg, the storm dropped 1.87 inches (47 mm) of rain while Cape Cod received tides 3–6 feet (0.91–1.83 meters) above normal.