WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Florence has become the first major hurricane of the Atlantic season, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Wednesday.

The hurricane's maximum sustained winds Wednesday morning are estimated to be 195 kilometers per hour, the NHC said.

The Category 3 storm is located about 2,265 km east-southeast of Bermuda and is moving west-northwest at 17 km per hour.

Florence is intensifying as the Tropical Storm Gordon has weakened into a tropical depression over U.S. state of Mississippi after making landfall late Tuesday near the Alabama-Mississippi border with near-hurricane level winds.

Florence is the basin's sixth named storm of the year.

Forecasters have said the Atlantic hurricane season is now expected to be less active as it enters its peak months due a combination of conditions in the ocean and atmosphere helping to limit storm development.

They are expecting 9 to 13 named storms with winds of 62 km per hour or higher, of which 4 to 7 will strengthen into hurricanes.

Of those storms, there may be up to 2 major hurricanes, which are classified as Category 3, 4 and 5 with winds of 177 km per hour or higher.