Hurricane Erin quickly strengthens into Category 5 storm

Muri Assuncao, New York Daily News on Aug 16, 2025

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Hurricane Erin, the first of the 2025 Atlantic season, strengthened into a dangerous Category 5 storm in the northeast Caribbean on Saturday, rapidly intensifying from a tropical storm in just 24 hours.

While forecasters previously predicted the hurricane would become a Category 3 by the end of the weekend, the storm had already reached Category 4 status by 6 a.m. Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

By late Saturday morning, NHC officials said the storm’s maximum sustained winds more than doubled in a day, to 160 mph — officially hitting Category 5 intensity.

A tropical storm watch, issued when storm conditions are possible within the next 12 hours, was in effect for St. Martin (including the Dutch territory of Sint Maarten) and St. Barthélemy, two of the northernmost islands in the eastern Caribbean, located about 250 miles northeast of Puerto Rico.

As the hurricane moves west-northwest, it’s expected to bring heavy rainfall through Sunday across the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, with totals up to 4 inches and isolated amounts up to 6 inches.

While Erin is not currently forecast to hit land, “considerable flash and urban flooding, along with landslides or mudslides, are possible,” the NHC said.

AccuWeather’s hurricane expert Alex DaSilva predicts the storm will then take a sharp turn northeast by early in the week, putting it in the path between the U.S. and Bermuda.

Uncertainty remains over what impact Erin will have on the U.S. East Coast, as tropical storm conditions can extend outward from its center by 100 miles or more.

Though currently compact. the Hurricane Center said Erin is expected to double or even triple in size in the coming days, potentially creating “life-threatening surf and rip currents along the beaches of the Bahamas, much of the east coast of the U.S., and Atlantic Canada.”

Forecasters warn that the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, could be unusually active. Erin, the season’s fifth named storm, is the first to officially reach major hurricane strength, which occurs when sustained winds reach 111 mph or higher.

According to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, a hurricane is classified as a Category 5 when maximum sustained winds are 157 mph or higher.

“Catastrophic damage will occur” if it makes landfall, causing impacted areas to be “uninhabitable for weeks or months,” according to the NHC.

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