Hurricane Erin, the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season, has become a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane, the US National Hurricane Center said on Saturday (Aug 16).
The storm is currently 170 km north of Anguilla, with maximum sustained winds near 255 km/h.
The NHC said on Friday that Erin is expected to strengthen over the southwestern Atlantic through the weekend and into next week.
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 NHC said earlier on Saturday.
The swells will spread to the Bahamas, Bermuda and the East Coast of the United States early next week, it said.
Erin has also raised concerns about another unforeseen risk, wildfires. Andrew Siffert, a senior meteorologist at BMS Group, noted that if Erin evolves into a large, intense extratropical cyclone offshore, a dangerous alignment could occur, critically dry fuels across the region, strong and dry winds driven by Erin’s pressure gradient and human ignition sources.
