Cat 4 Hurricane Erin’s high winds lash the Bahamas as it begins turn north
Evacuations were already underway in North Carolina’s Outer Banks before a tropical storm watch was issued for the vulnerable region Monday evening — the U.S. spot expected to feel the strongest impacts from Category 4 Hurricane Erin.
The massive storm spent Monday whipping parts of Turks and Caicos and the Bahamas with tropical-storm-force winds. The Bahamas will continue to feel the outer edges of Erin’s high winds and fierce surf through Tuesday, forecasters say.
After a weekend as a roaring Category 5, Erin cooled some overnight, allowing the reach of its high winds to increase even more. The powerful — and huge — hurricane is expected to churn off the southeast coast this week as it chugs north.
The impact to watch is “life-threatening” rough surf and intense rip currents, which could start to hit Florida beaches from Palm Beach north as soon as Wednesday and continue into the early weekend. The Outer Banks of North Carolina could see up to 20-foot waves in the middle of the week as Erin gets its closest to the U.S.
Some of the islands, including Hatteras and Ocracoke, are now under mandatory evacuations.
As of the 5 p.m. forecast, the National Hurricane Center said Erin remains a Category 4 storm with 140 mph sustained winds, headed northwest at 10 mph.
Starting Tuesday, forecasters expect a gradual weakening of the hurricane as it heads north, shooting the gap between the U.S. east coast and Bermuda without direct landfall impacts on either.
By Thursday, the hurricane center expects the storm to accelerate and head northeast into cooler waters, where it could continue to weaken even further from the coast.
The central Bahamas remains under a tropical storm watch ahead of Erin’s passage on Tuesday, and the southeast Bahamas and Turks and Caicos are under a tropical storm warning as high winds and surf lash the islands.
Could another storm form in the Atlantic?
The hurricane center is also eyeing a disturbance in the Atlantic that could follow in Erin’s wake. As of Monday morning, forecasters gave it a 60% chance of developing into a tropical depression or storm in the next seven days — a slight upgrade from earlier Monday morning. It had a 10% chance of strengthening within the next two days, forecasters said.
The system is new, so it hasn’t been designated an “invest” by the hurricane center yet. If the system does strengthen, it could potentially reach the easternmost Caribbean islands around the end of the week.
“I think its too early to say if this system follows Erin’s path to an extent or has a mind of its own into next week. Regardless it will need to be watched,” the Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore posted on X Monday morning.
This story was originally published August 18, 2025 at 8:27 AM.
