{"id":160892,"date":"2025-08-16T16:31:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T16:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/hurricane-erin-strengthens-to-a-fierce-category-5-storm-in-the-atlantic-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T16:31:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T16:31:05","slug":"hurricane-erin-strengthens-to-a-fierce-category-5-storm-in-the-atlantic-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/hurricane-erin-strengthens-to-a-fierce-category-5-storm-in-the-atlantic-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Hurricane Erin strengthens to a fierce Category 5 storm in the Atlantic – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hurricane Erin<\/a> has strengthened into a fearsome Category 5 Hurricane with sustained winds of 160 mph as the storm travels west over the Atlantic.
The hurricane is not expected to make a direct hit on the United States, but it will still drive dangerous surf conditions along the East Coast. Erin is expected to make a turn to the west-northwest later in the day and a turn north after the weekend, passing north of islands in the Caribbean.
“We still expect this to eventually make a more northward turn and stay offshore of the East Coast of the United States. So that certainly is good news when dealing with a storm this powerful,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Pydynowski told USA TODAY.
Erin is only the fifth Category 5 hurricane on record to form this early in the hurricane season and the only Category 5 observed outside the Gulf or Caribbean this early in the year, according to WPLG-TV hurricane specialist Michael Lowry.\u00a0
Under the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale,\u00a0the minimum threshold for Category 5 winds is 157 mph. Category 5 hurricanes are the strongest possible, according to the scale<\/a>.
“(B)y the middle of next week, Erin is forecast to at least double or triple in size, which will result in rough ocean conditions over the western Atlantic,” the hurricane center said.
The storm’s outer bands of rain were already beginning to impact the northern Leeward Islands, forecasters said on Aug. 16. Heavy rainfall is expected in the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico for the rest of the weekend, bringing 2 to 4 inches of rain with localized amounts of 6 inches and possible flash flooding.
Erin formed as a hurricane on Aug. 15. It was the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, and quickly became the first major hurricane as well. A major hurricane is one that reaches at least Category 3 status.
The Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1 and will last through the end of November. Active hurricane weather typically peaks between mid-August and mid-October. The first hurricane of the Atlantic season on average forms on about Aug. 11<\/a>.
Erin is expected to make a turn to the north and avoid making landfall altogether. It will pass somewhere between North Carolina’s Outer Banks and Bermuda, National Hurricane Center Director Mike Brennan\u00a0said.
Despite staying well off the coast, Erin will cause dangerous surf conditions up and down practically the entire East Coast, from Florida all the way up to New England beaches, Pydynowski said. The conditions will include high waves and dangerous rip currents. The Outer Banks could see some beach erosion and coastal flooding from high waves, he said.
Erin is expected to bring dangerous conditions to offshore waters and beaches along the Northeast Florida coast from Aug. 18 – 21, including rip currents and rough, high surf with breakers greater than 7 feet on the 19th and 20th, said the weather service office in Jacksonville, Florida.\u00a0
Weather conditions may seem ideal for a beach trip, but these types of conditions are when rip current fatalities tend to occur, Brennan said. Rip currents may not be visible from shore, so beachgoers should swim near lifeguards and pay attention to posted warnings.
Rapid intensification occurs when a tropical cyclone (whether a tropical storm or hurricane) strengthens by at least 35 mph in a 24-hour period.
In Erin’s case, winds strengthened roughly 80 mph in about a day. Erin was declared a hurricane (winds of at least 74 mph) shortly before 11 a.m. on Aug. 15. A day later, it had strengthened into a Category 5 cyclone (winds of at least 157 mph).
Warm water ahead of Erin as it moved west, a lack of wind shear and its position far enough away from any land to interfere contributed to the strengthening, Pydynowski said.
“These kind of rapid intensification events do occur, but that much that quickly is certainly more toward the uncommon end of things,” he said.
As of 11:20 a.m., Erin was located about 105 miles north of Anguilla, one of the most northward of the Leeward Islands. It was moving west at about 17 mph with wind speeds of 160 mph.
This forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm. It does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time.<\/em>
Illustrations include an array of forecast tools and models, and not all are created equal. The hurricane center uses only the top four or five highest performing models to help make its forecasts.<\/em>
Hurricanes are born\u00a0in the tropics, above warm water<\/a>. Clusters of thunderstorms can develop over the ocean when water temperatures exceed 80 degrees Fahrenheit. If conditions are right, the clusters swirl into a storm known as a\u00a0tropical wave or tropical depression.
A tropical depression becomes a named tropical storm once its sustained wind speeds reaches 39 miles per hour.\u00a0When its winds reach 74 mph, the\u00a0storm\u00a0officially becomes a hurricane.
Delaying potentially life-saving preparations could mean waiting until it\u2019s too late<\/a>. “Get your disaster supplies while the shelves are still stocked, and get that insurance checkup early, as flood insurance requires a 30-day waiting period,” NOAA recommends.
Contributing: Doyle Rice and Dinah Voyles Pulver<\/em><\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hurricane Erin has strengthened into a fearsome Category 5 Hurricane with sustained winds of 160 mph as the storm travels west over the Atlantic.The hurricane is not expected to make a direct hit on the United States, but it will still drive dangerous surf conditions along the East Coast. Erin is expected to make a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160893,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-160892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}