Hurricane Erin Expected To ‘Explode’ Into Category 4 Storm: See Potential FL Impacts

Erin reached hurricane status Friday morning in the Atlantic Ocean, with AccuWeather forecasters predicting it will reach monster Category 4 strength next week.

The first Atlantic hurricane of the 2025 season is more than 500 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands. Erin is expected to rapidly intensify into a major hurricane while tracking between Bermuda and the U.S. East Coast, experts said.

The storm has maximum sustained winds of 75 mph Friday as of 11 a.m. as it moves west-northwest across the Atlantic at 17 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.

"Erin is forecast to explode into a powerful Category 4 hurricane as it moves across very warm waters in the open Atlantic. Water temperatures at the surface and hundreds of feet deep are several degrees higher than the historical average," said Accuweather’s lead hurricane expert Alex DaSilva said.

The National Hurricane Center defines the type of weather disturbance by the strength of its wind speed. A hurricane is a storm with sustained wind speed of at least 74 miles per hour.

A category 1 storm has sustained winds of 74-95 mph, while a category 4 storm packs winds of 130-156 mph. “Catastrophic damage will occur,” at that strength, the NHC said.

The Washington Post reported that Erin should become a Category 4 storm on Monday, but it is still expected to avoid landfall on the East Coast.

Though experts said it’s too early to predict specific impacts of wind, rain, or storm surge to the East Coast, they did advise beachgoers to keep an eye on the waves as the storm intensifies.

“As Erin moves into the Western Atlantic and strengthens, it’s gonna produce a large wave field,” National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Jamie Rhome said Friday, with a chart of the storm’s wave field.

According to Rhome, brighter colors in the chart indicate higher ocean waves, with the potential to reach up to 35 feet.

“As those waves move toward the East Coast of the United States, it’s going to produce a big rip current risk later in the weekend, early next week,” Rhome said. “So if you’re going to the beach, you really have to pay attention.”

Regardless of Erin’s exact track, Rhome said the threat of rip currents will still materialize and advised those headed to the beach to swim near a lifeguard and check hazard warnings at their local beach beforehand.

See Also:

• What Is A Hurricane: FL Weather Terms To Know
• Tropical Storm Erin Strengthens As It Heads Toward U.S.
• As Many As 5 Tropical Storms Forecast In August, Update Says
• Updated Atlantic Hurricane Season Forecast Released By CSU Experts

While Erin is expected to turn north into the Atlantic, the storm could bring dangerous rough surf and rip currents along the U.S. East Coast next week. How the system impacts the U.S. will be determined by when it turns north.

The storm is expected to pass about 200 miles north of Puerto Rico and track north between the U.S. and Bermuda, forecasters said.

Though the eye is expected to stay well offshore from the U.S., the storm is expected to grow in size and intensity.

If it tracks further west, “protruding coastal areas — such as North Carolina’s Outer Banks, Long Island, New York, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts — face a higher risk of direct and potentially severe tropical storm or hurricane conditions than much of the southern Atlantic, mid-Atlantic and northern New England coasts,” AccuWeather meteorologists said.

Waves as high as 10 to 15 feet could impact parts of the North Carolina coast, causing beach erosion issues, experts said.

Bermuda could experience Category 2 hurricane conditions Tuesday if Erin tracks farther east.

“A turn away from the U.S. East Coast is very likely next week with no direct impacts to the U.S. mainland,” Denis Phillips, chief meteorologist for ABC Action News, wrote in a Facebook post.

Fox 13’s Paul Dellegatto wrote in a social media post, “Erin is also on track to pass well east of Florida. High surf and beach erosion is likely on our east coast.”

No matter the exact path it takes, the storm will have a large wind field that could bring strong rip currents to powerful surf from Florida to Atlantic Canada, AccuWeather said.