Erin becomes Category 5 offshore, first major of 2025 season

Tropical Storm Erin has intensified into a Category 5 hurricane in the Caribbean, becoming the first major hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season. With maximum sustained winds around 160 mph, Erin is moving west-northwest and remains offshore of the United States for now. Forecasters say the storm will pass north of the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico this weekend, unleashing dangerous surf and heavy rain on nearby islands while unlikely to make direct landfall in the United States. At the same time, Erin’s expanding wind field and large swells are elevating coastal hazards from the Caribbean to parts of the eastern seaboard and beyond.

Current observations place Erin roughly 150 miles northeast of Anguilla, its core compact but already producing powerful winds and escalating seas. A hurricane hunter flight confirmed sustained winds near 160 mph, and the system is forecast to stay offshore as it threads a path toward the open Atlantic. The center of Erin is expected to bend toward the northwest, then turn northward in the coming days, placing Bermuda and portions of the U.S. coast within a broadened swells footprint even if the hurricane itself does not strike land. The storm’s...