 By October 10 , Bravo had intensified substantially , as hurricane hunters recorded hurricane @-@ force winds roughly 15 mi ( 25 km ) from the center of the storm . Following this finding , the National Hurricane Center reclassified the system as a tropical system and renamed it Fran , dropping its previous designation of Bravo . <unk> generally eastward by a deep surface low in the westerlies , Fran accelerated towards the Azores Islands . Shortly after bypassing the islands on October 12 , the central pressure of Fran decreased to 978 mbar ( hPa ; 28 @.@ 88 inHg ) , the lowest recorded in relation to the hurricane . Shortly after reaching this intensity , the hurricane transitioned into an extratropical cyclone and quickly merged with a cold front off the coast of France . Although Fran passed near the Azores , no impact was recorded on any of the islands . 
