As outer rain bands moved into the northeast Caribbean Sea on Saturday, Hurricane Erin, the first storm of the 2025 Atlantic season, rapidly intensified into a deadly Category 4 storm.
According to the National Hurricane Center, the hurricane had already attained Category 4 status by 6 a.m. Saturday, with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, despite experts’ earlier predictions that it would become a Category 3 storm by the end of the weekend.
The storm’s maximum sustained winds, which were just short of Category 5 intensity at 155 mph, more than quadrupled in a day, according to NHC officials by late Saturday morning.
Two of the northernmost islands in the eastern Caribbean, St. Martin (including the Dutch province of Sint Maarten) and St. Barth Lemy, which are roughly 250 miles northeast of Puerto Rico, were under a tropical storm watch, which is issued when storm conditions are likely to develop within the next 12 hours.
Through Sunday, the hurricane is predicted to bring significant rainfall—up to 4 inches overall and up to 6 inches in isolated areas—to the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.
Although Erin is not expected to make landfall at this time, the NHC warned that significant flash and urban flooding, as well as mudslides or landslides, might occur.
By early in the week, the storm will make a dramatic turn to the northeast, putting it in the route between the United States and Bermuda, according to AccuWeather’s hurricane analyst Alex DaSilva.
Since tropical storm characteristics can spread out from Erin’s center by 100 miles or more, it is still unclear how the storm will affect the U.S. East Coast.
According to the Hurricane Center, Erin is predicted to double or possibly triple in size over the next few days, which could result in potentially fatal surf and rip currents throughout the Bahamas’ beaches, as well as those of much of the U.S. east coast and Atlantic Canada.
The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, which begins on June 1 and ends on November 30, may be exceptionally active, according to forecasters. The fifth named storm of the season, Erin, is the first to formally attain major hurricane strength, which is attained when sustained winds surpass 111 mph.
A hurricane is categorized as a Category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale if its maximum sustained winds fall between 130 and 156 mph.
According to the NHC, if it makes landfall, catastrophic destruction will ensue.
