930 mi (1500 km) southeast of Cape Hatteras in North Carolina, and had an eye diameter of only . After peak intensity, Gloria weakened while turning to the north, moving around the western end of the ridge, toward a cold front. By September 26, the winds had decreased to 90 mph (150 km/h), just 30 hours after its peak intensity. Shortly after peaking, Gloria's asymmetrical wind field caused the storm to rapidly weaken, and 18 hours later, its sustained wind speed decreased to 90 mph (145 km/h). Later that day, a buoy about 60 mi (100 km) east of the center recorded a wave height of 46.9 ft (14.3 m), which at the time was the highest buoy wave recording in an Atlantic hurricane. While accelerating toward North Carolina, Gloria re-intensified slightly to winds of 105 mph (165 km/h), making it a Category 2 hurricane. At 05:30 UTC on September 27, the hurricane struck southern Hatteras Island in the Outer Banks. After weakening further, Gloria passed just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and New Jersey and interacted with a cold front. Its strongest winds remained on the eastern edge of the circulation, and the storm was gradually losing tropical characteristics. At 16:00 UTC on September 27, the hurricane made landfall with a broad and poorly defined center, between John F. Kennedy International Airport and Islip, New York, with sustained winds of 85 mph (140 km/h), on western Long Island. This was only about three days after Henri had struck the same general area as a much weaker tropical storm. Operationally, the NHC had classified Gloria as a Category 3 major hurricane when it made landfall, but the storm's landfall intensity was later downgraded in the post-season analysis. Even then, the hurricane produced Category 3-equivalent wind gusts throughout Long Island. About an hour after striking Long Island, Gloria made its final landfall in western Connecticut near Westport, and proceeded to move through New England, while weakening. The NHC estimated that Gloria became extratropical over Maine by 00:00 UTC on September 28. The storm continued moving towards the northeast through Atlantic Canada, passing south of Greenland on September 30. The extratropical circulation of Gloria was last noted on October 2, although the storm's remnants later affected Europe and were last noted on October 4. Preparations Early in Gloria's duration, it threatened the northern Lesser Antilles, prompting a hurricane watch and later warning