I don't know what satellite pictures you were looking at, but the past
couple of days of Meteosat pictures show the outflow cloud from
hurricane Gordon being sheared further and further NE towards the UK.
The reason for Gordon declining to a "feeble ex-hurricane" - apart from
it encountering lower sea temperatures - was the increasing shear it
encountered as an upper trough caught up with it.

So, no "journalistic hyperbole" after all.



I did wonder if some of the sub-tropical air in Gordon, coming our way
would result in some increase in rainfall, but looking at the latest IR
animation the main body of Gordon remains just west of Portugal, so
perhaps it was just the sheer and cirrus outflow which has become
entrained.

Cheers
James
--
James Brown