Hurricane Erin Is Still A Major Hurricane, Bringing Impacts To Puerto Rico, Turks And Caicos, And More

After a brief stint as a category 5 hurricane on Saturday, Erin has since weakened to category 3 status, which is still considered a major hurricane.

Erin started as a category 1 hurricane with 75 MPH winds and a central pressure of 996 millibars on Friday morning, and quickly rose to category 5 by Saturday morning, with 160 MPH winds and a central pressure of 915 millibars. That is roughly an 85 MPH increase in wind speed and an 80 millibar drop in pressure in a 24 hour period! Erin is still a category 4 major hurricane.

Current Storm Information And Track

The National Hurricane Center is issuing updates on Hurricane Erin every 6 hours or as needed with updates coming out at 4 AM, 10 AM, 4 PM, and 10 PM Central Time.

The latest information and track on Erin are below:

The official forecast from the National Hurricane Center calls for a general westward movement through the weekend across the open waters of the Atlantic. Erin should strengthen into the season’s first major hurricane late this weekend/early next week.

Erin Is Bringing Heavy Rains And Flooding To The Turks and Caicos, Southeast Bahamas

Hurricane force conditions are thankfully staying just of the coast of many major landmarks, but tropical storm force winds and rain bands are currently moving over portions of Puerto Rico and parts of Hispaniola. This conditions are expected to spread to the southeastern Bahamas through Sunday. While Erin will NOT directly impact the majority of the Bahamas and the U.S. east coast, life threatening rip currents are certainly a possibility once Erin makes its northward turn.

The trade winds will push Erin westward through the weekend, but the stronger a hurricane gets, the more tendency it has to move northward toward the poles. The Bermuda High, a large area of high pressure that typically is anchored near Bermuda, is expected to be centered just east of Bermuda. After the system moves past the Bermuda High, it should gradually make a turn toward the north.

A Few Areas To Keep An Eye On

Aside from Hurricane Erin, there are two other areas of potential tropical development, one of which is about to enter the main development region in the Atlantic. This tropical wave (also known as an African easterly wave), has a 50% chance of development in the next 7 days, with no chance in the next 48 hours. This system is one to monitor as it’s set to take a similar route through the Atlantic as Hurricane Erin is taking.

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