 Within the early hours of September 6 , Nate became quasi @-@ stationary under a weak steering pattern between Hurricane Maria and a disturbance over The Bahamas . Satellite imagery indicated that the cloud pattern continued to organize with excellent outflow surrounding the storm . Late on September 6 a developing banding eye feature became evident . Tropical Storm Nate strengthened further and became a hurricane at 1200 UTC on September 7 , as it began to turn away from Bermuda . Some models indicated that Nate could have been either absorbed by or merged with the larger Hurricane Maria , but the National Hurricane Center ( NHC ) forecast that Nate would survive as a separate system , which it did . The large low to the northeast of The Bahamas gradually opened into a broad trough as a shortwave trough approached from the northwest . The larger trough slowly became elongated in a northeast – southwest manner late on September 7 . At the same time , the shortwave trough moved southward along the west side of the other trough . The increasing southwesterly flow along the southeast side of the broad trough caused Nate to accelerate northeastward . Nate reached its peak intensity of 90 mph ( 145 km / h ) late on September 8 as it passed 120 miles ( 205 km ) southeast of Bermuda , while its strongest winds remained well offshore . 
