Tropical Storm Erin maintains strength in tropical Atlantic

Tuesday, August 12, 2025

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has named the fifth storm of the season, Tropical Storm Erin.

Forecasters predict Erin will strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane by Friday. If so, it would be the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane season.

As of 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Erin had not strengthened, maintaining winds of 45 mph with gusts of up to 60 mph. The storm had slowed slightly from the previous day, moving west at 17 mph.

By Sunday, Erin could become a major Category 3 storm. It will still be well out to sea then, so it will not affect the U.S. coastline this week.

Erin could track close enough to the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico to have some effects on those islands by the weekend.

There is still some uncertainty about Erin's possible effects on Bermuda and the eastern United States next week, but for the U.S. East Coast, rough surf and rip currents are expected at this time.

On average, the fifth named storm appears on Aug. 22, so we're 11 days ahead of schedule on that front. However, the first hurricane of the season generally forms around August 11, so we will be on par with that stat.

NHC is also closely monitoring a disturbance in the Gulf that has a 20% chance of becoming a named storm. Regardless of development, this could bring heavy rainfall to Texas by this weekend. The current chance of this disturbance becoming a named storm is low (20%).