Early on September 21, the motion moved to the north as it moved along the northwest edge of the subtropical ridge. That movement kept going throughout the day, however, Helene began to turn more to the north-east that evening along the edge of the subtropical ridge, east of Bermuda. Because wind shear got lower and the water was quite warm at around 81°F (27°C), Helene stayed as a Category 1 hurricane without any big changes to its strength. The strength stayed at around 80 mph (130 km/h) before strengthening a bit late on September 22, even though it lost some tropical features (it was put back down to a tropical storm for a short amount of time) as it sped up northeast in the north Atlantic. When QuikSCAT analysed it early on September 23, they said that it was definitely a high-end Category 1 hurricane with 90 mph (145 km/h) winds.