According to a post to X from Michael Lowry, a hurricane specialist for a south Florida news station, Erin is the fifth Category 5 storm 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.”

Hurricane Erin lashes Bahamas and Turks and Caicos with winds, rain, and flooding as forecasters track a new Atlantic tropical threat.

The major hurricane will remain well offshore, but bring long-reaching coastal effects to much of the Eastern U.S.

Hurricane Erin – an already powerful Category 4 storm in the Atlantic Ocean – is getting stronger and is expected to grow even larger, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Erin is forecast to remain well offshore but still bring hazardous currents and possible erosion like previous offshore hurricanes before it.

Tropical Storm Erin continues its westward path across the Atlantic, expected to become a hurricane Aug. 15, and a major hurricane by Sunday morning.

Hurricane Erin, the first major hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, rapidly intensified Friday night, with the storm now reaching Category 5 strength with sustained winds of 160 mph.