Now-Category 5 Hurricane Erin Stuns With Incredibly Fast Intensification

Satellite view of Category 5 Hurricane Erin this 
afternoon. You can barely make out a pinpoint little
eye in this view. A tiny eye like this is what you'
usually see in the very strongest hurricanes. 

 Hurricane Erin stunned meteorologist and storm watchers today with one of the fastest intensifications ever seen in such a storm in the Atlantic Ocean. 

At last check shortly at mid-afternoon,  Hurricane Erin was churning about 230 miles east, northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico with top sustained winds at a crushing 160 mph. 

Within less than 24 hours Erin went from a tropical storm with 70 mph winds to this 160 mph monster.  Its central pressure went from 996 millibars to 917 millibars. 

Preliminary data suggests Hurricane Erin intensified faster than any August hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean. Category 5 hurricanes are relatively rare, but have become increasingly less so.  

Also, Category 4 Atlantic Ocean storms are even more rare.  If you do get a Cat 5, they usually hit in September, the peak of hurricane season. 

"It's our new reality. Records every year. Every month. Intensification rates beyond imagination. Simply unreal," Florida meteorologist and hurricane expert John Morales said on the social media site Threads. 

The reason Morales is so worried is - you guessed it - climate change.  Hurricanes have gotten into the habit of intensifying super fast in recent years.  Climate change has warmed up oceans to make them jet fuel for hurricanes. The overall atmosphere is warmer than it once was

So, hurricanes like Beryl, Milton, Helene, Michael, Ida, Laura and others in recent years all blew up literally overnight to Category 4 and 5 monsters. 

As CBS News explains:

"Since April, 2023, global sea surface temperatures have been hotter than any period on record, and hotter oceans fuel stronger storms and amplify evaporation, strengthening hurricane winds and increasing the rain they hold. 

Storms that ramp up quickly complicate forecasting for meteorologists and make it harder for government agencies to plan for emergencies."

ERIN'S FUTURE

The fantastic news is that nobody is going to have to plan for an emergency that involves a direct hit by Hurricane Erin. That's a happy miracle. 

Erin should start to curve north pretty soon, eventually moving northwestward, east of the Bahamas Monday, then northward and northeastward far off the U.S. East Coast during the week. 

The hurricane's seeming allergy to crashing onto a shore somewhere great, but it's still a danger to landlubbers. 

The fact that Hurricane Erin is so ferocious and is expanding in size is bad news for some Caribbean Islands, and plenty of other places. The northern Leeward Islands, parts of the U.S. and British Virgin islands face winds possibly up to 70 mph and flooding rains as the storm passes to their north. 

Once Erin is off the East Coast of the United States, wind gusts of 39 mph or more - tropical storm strength, could stretch to 1,000 miles wide, from just off the Mid-Atlantic Coast to far to the southeast of Bermuda.

As it moves north and northeast next week, Hurricane Erin will probably reach its peak intensity soon. 

By tomorrow it will level off, then ever so slowly weaken but remain a formidable storm in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. We can expect several days of huge surf, rip currents and possibly some coastal flooding all up and down the East Coast of the United States and on into Canada.