Hurricane Erin strengthens to Category 5
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Hurricane Erin became the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season on Friday, with sustained winds of 75 mph as it moves toward the Leeward Islands.
The August weather might seem ideal for a beach trip, but Hurricane Erin will bring widespread danger in coming days.
Jean-Raymond Bidlot, senior scientist in ocean modeling at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) told Newsweek that Erin is forecast to strengthen over the next week as it heads toward the U.S. East Coast, reaching peak intensity offshore from Cape Hatteras.
Forecasters are watching a tropical disturbance with very high chances of formation as it moves west of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. The low pressure system, causing strong winds and rough seas, is near the northwest Cabo Verde Islands and has a 90% chance of organizing into a tropical depression over the next two days.
Even if a tropical depression does not form over the next day or so, environmental conditions appear conducive for later development, and a tropical depression is likely to form by the middle to latter portion of this