After passing the Azores, Gordon began interacting with an approaching cold front. Early on September 21, it completed the transition into an extratropical storm while simultaneously weakening below hurricane-force, located about west-northwest of the west coast of Portugal. The cyclone maintained its identity as the system turned sharply northeastward and later northward, after passing about northwest of the Spanish province of Galicia. Its forward motion accelerated to about , steered by another extratropical storm, while still maintaining sustained winds of . After moving along the west coast of Ireland, the extratropical remnants of Gordon turned to the northwest and intensified to hurricane-force winds. It turned to the southwest and later to the southeast, completing a large cyclonic loop before dissipating on September 24 to the south of Ireland.