Hurricane Erin: A Major Threat as It Becomes Category 5

In this NOAA image taken by the GOES satellite, Hurricane Erin crosses the Atlantic Ocean as it moves west on August 16, 2025. Photo: NOAA via Getty Images

The National Hurricane Center reports that Hurricane Erin has strengthened to a Category 5 storm with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph.

Threat level: The hurricane center issued a fresh advisory on Saturday that predicts "life-threatening surf and rip currents" for the East Coast, Bermuda, and the Bahamas the next week.

Throughout the weekend, the northern Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and Turks and Caicos will be affected by Erin's swells, which were a Category 1 on Friday.

As of right now, St. Martin, St. Barthelemy, and Sint Maarten are under a tropical storm watch. At 2:00 pm, Erin was heading north of the northern Leeward Islands.

Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale "catastrophic damage" is indicated by its Category 5 classification for sustained winds of 157 mph or more.

As of right now, St. Martin, St. Barthelemy, and Sint Maarten are under a tropical storm watch. At 2:00 pm, Erin was heading north of the northern Leeward Islands.

Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale "catastrophic damage" is indicated by its Category 5 classification for sustained winds of 157 mph or more.

As of right now, St. Martin, St. Barthelemy, and Sint Maarten are under a tropical storm watch. At 2:00 pm, Erin was heading north of the northern Leeward Islands.

Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale "catastrophic damage" is indicated by its Category 5 classification for sustained winds of 157 mph or more.

This is forecast to begin on Monday in Florida, then move north into the Carolinas on Tuesday and Wednesday, and finally reach the mid-Atlantic states on Wednesday and Thursday.

What we're watching: Peak wave heights could reach more than 50 feet near the storm's center, causing huge wave breakers of more than 10 feet to hit the coast.

"This is the exact case where we tend to see a lot of rip current fatalities," according to Brennan. "The weather can be otherwise pretty nice to be at the beach, but the ocean can be very dangerous."