Tropical Storm Gordon weakened slightly as it continued to move away from the U.S. over the Atlantic Ocean Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

But Gordon became a bit stronger as it moved eastward toward the Azores later in the day. As of 11 p.m., Gordon had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph as it moved east at 18 mph about 880 miles west of the Azores.

Gordon was expected to continue moving east and then turn toward the east-northeast on Sunday. That's when it will approach the central and eastern Azores. The government of Portugal issued a tropical storm watch for those islands, the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm was forecast to weaken again on Sunday.

Meantime, the remnants of Tropical Depression 7 were upgraded to Tropical Storm Helene off the Mexican coast Friday, the National Hurricane Center said.

As of 11 p.m., Helene had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph as it moved northwest at 7 mph about 65 miles east of Tuxpan, Mexico, forecasters said.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the coast of Mexico from Barra de Nautla to La Cruz, and the center of the the system was expected to make landfall within the warning area on Saturday.

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