Hurricane Erin is now a Category 4 storm, rapidly intensifying overnight into early Saturday morning as it moves closer to the U.S. East Coast with sustained winds up to 155 mph. Image courtesy of the National Hurricane Center
Hurricane Erin is now a Category 4 storm, rapidly intensifying overnight into early Saturday morning as it moves closer to the U.S. East Coast with sustained winds up to 155 mph.
The storm was located approximately 235 miles east-northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and 105 miles north of Anguilla and other northern Leeward Islands, as of the latest update from the National Hurricane Center, issued at 11 a.m. AST Saturday.
The storm is expected to skirt those islands rather than hit them directly, which could bring strong winds and up to six inches of rain through the day Saturday.
Forecasters are still warning of the potential for danger, with maximum wind speeds increasing from 130 mph on Friday to 155 mph Saturday, just barely below the 157 mph wind speed threshold to be considered a Category 5 storm.
“Swells generated by Erin will affect portions of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and the Turks and Caicos Islands through the weekend,” the weather service said in its latest update.
“These rough ocean conditions will likely cause life-threatening surf and rip currents.”
Erin became the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic storm season Friday and is expected to continue gathering strength. Forecasters had been expecting the storm to intensify into a hurricane since early in the week.
Forecasters predict the storm has the potential to affect the U.S. East Coast, including Florida, as well as the Bahamas and Bermuda, next week.
Erin was moving at 17 mph as of the latest update from the National Hurricane Center. It is expected to maintain that speed through the day.
Forecasters are predicting the storm will make a west-northwest turn Saturday evening, which will come with a “decrease in forward speed,” ahead of an expected northerly early next week.
There have been four prior Atlantic named storms so far this season. Tropical Storm Chantal caused major flooding in North Carolina but was the only of the four to make landfall in the United States.
The Atlantic hurricane season ends on Nov. 30.
