This subsequently allowed Gladys to rapidly intensify into a Category 4 hurricane, reaching maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (230 km/h) on October 2.

Thereafter, Gladys began to weaken and passed very close to Cape Race, Newfoundland before merging with a large extratropical cyclone the next day.

Due to favorable conditions such as low wind shear and warm sea surface temperatures, the depression strengthened into a tropical storm and was named Gladys by the National Hurricane Center (NHC) on September 24.

[3] However, early on September 28, the barometric pressure increased to 1,000 mb (30 inHg); the NHC notes that Gladys may have briefly weakened into a tropical storm at this time.

[3] At 08:46 UTC on October 2, Hurricane Hunters measured maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure of 939 mbar (27.7 inHg).

[3] Accelerating at unusually high speeds, Gladys passed 70 miles (110 km) southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland on October 3.

[2] Although initially not expected to threaten,[6] meteorologists at the NHC forecast the storm to make landfall along the East Coast of the United States within three days.

[7] A hurricane watch was issued for North Carolina's Outer Banks on October 1,[8] extending from Cape Lookout to Kitty Hawk.

[10] In Manteo, residents began laying sandbags and filling their cars up with fuel in anticipation for possible evacuation, and the United States Coast Guard sent a plane equipped with a loudspeaker to warn fishermen of the hurricane.