Hurricane Erin may cruise past the U.S. shoreline, but the Category 4 storm will create potentially dangerous conditions along the East Coast next week. FOX Weather Hurricane Specialist Bryan Norcross breaks it all down.

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.

Hurricane Erin will continue to strengthen as it approaches the Leeward Island and Puerto Rico, where it will threaten with tropical downpours, pounding surf and strong winds.

Hurricane Erin, the first hurricane of 2025 in the Atlantic, strengthened on Friday night as it began its closest approach to the north of the Leeward Islands, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The National Hurricane Center is monitoring two disturbances in the Atlantic—the first poised to approach the northern Leeward Islands later this week and the second near the Cabo Verde Islands—while Hurricane Erin, now a Category 3, heads away from the Caribbean.

Erin became the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season on Friday and was expected to continue strengthening, forecasters said.

Hurricane Erin, the first of the 2025 Atlantic season, is forecast to become a major storm this weekend, bringing heavy rain, flooding risk, and dangerous surf to parts of the Caribbean and western Atlantic.

A new system has emerged in the eastern tropical Atlantic, heading westward toward the Leeward Islands as Hurricane Erin continues to spin.

Erin’s sustained winds increased to 70 mph, just 4 mph shy of hurricane strength. The hurricane center said Erin should continue to strengthen through the weekend, when it should be moving near or north of the Leeward Islands, according to the official forecast path.

Hurricane Erin weakened to a category 3 hurricane during the early hours of Aug. 19 as it moves closer to the East Coast, according to the National Hurricane Center. As of 5 a.m. Aug. 19, Erin was located 675 miles southwest of Bermuda and 750 miles from Cape Hatteras,