Upon developing, the depression, small in physical size, moved slowly west-north-westward. Initially, the NHC faced difficulties in forecasting the future of the system due to the potential for resumed strong wind shear, as well as uncertainty in its path of direction. It gradually organized and intensified, and based on observations from the Hurricane Hunters, the NHC assessed the depression as a tropical storm late on September 11; upon doing so, they named it Gordon. As it strengthened, Gordon developed more large outflow and increasing banding features. On September 12, the storm slowed and turned toward the north through a weakness in the subtropical ridge created by Florence. Wind shear decreased further, and the storm's convection became more symmetric with an intermittent eye feature in the center. Based on the presence of the eye and estimates from satellite imagery, it is estimated that Gordon intensified into a hurricane early on September 13.