Erin reached Category 5 status before weakening but has brought significant rain to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.

An eyewall replacement cycle is underway within Hurricane Erin as the monster storm continues to barrel across the Atlantic while bringing gusty winds and rain to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands after rapidly intensifying into a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane over the weekend.

Powerful Hurricane Erin has undergone a period of astonishingly rapid intensification — a phenomenon that has become far more common in recent years as the planet warms. It was a rare Category 5 for a time Saturday before becoming a Category 4,

The first hurricane of the 2025 season intensified into a Category 5 storm Saturday before reverting back to Category 4 status Saturday night. The storm is forecast to turn north just before the

Hurricane Erin exploded in strength and became a major storm in Atlantic waters just north of the Caribbean on Saturday, rapidly powering up from a tropical storm in a single day and bringing heavy rains and high winds to islands in the region.

A westward-moving tropical wave could produce an area of low pressure in the tropical Atlantic late in the week of Aug. 18, the hurricane center said on Aug. 16. The center shows a 20% chance of storm formation over the next week.