Erin, the first Atlantic hurricane of 2025, reached Category 5 status before weakening, with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph.

While the category 4 storm is not expected to make landfall on the U.S. east coast, it will have an impact nonetheless. Dangerous high surf and rip currents are expected from Florida to New England throughout the week.

Evacuation orders were issued in North Carolina Tuesday as Hurricane Erin continued to swirl upward across the Atlantic Ocean and two disturbances followed behind it.

Notice the historical line that the storm has made a significant turn from heading west to almost directly north

Hurricane Erin strengthened 85 mph in 24 hours to a 160 mph Category 5 hurricane putting in fourth place for rapidly intensifying storms.

Erin strengthened again Monday as it began pelting part of the Caribbean with rain and wind before it’s expected to create dangerous surf and rip currents along the U.S. East Coast this week.

Hurricane Erin underwent rapid intensification to become a Category 5 storm in just hours. It has since weakened to a Category 4 status.

Erin’s surf and storm surge could cause erosion along sections of the Florida and East Coast and shapes up as potentially worse for North Carolina’s barrier islands, which are under mandatory evacuation orders ahead of the four feet of storm surge and 20-foot offshore waves Erin is expected to bring.

The U.S. Air Force 403rd Wing released footage showing one of its planes entering the eye of Hurricane Erin. By early Tuesday, Erin had lost some strength from previous days and had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph),

Hurricane Erin is forecast to “substantially grow in size” while moving closer to Bermuda Tuesday with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (mph). The Miami-based National Hurricane Centre (NHC) said that the category three hurricane was about 675 miles south west of Bermuda and that a Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands,