Hurricane Erin roars to category 5, will miss US landfall; here’s how it might affect New York and the Jersey shore indirectly

Hurricane Erin, the first major storm of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, has rapidly intensified into a Category 5 hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The storm, located north of the northern Leeward Islands, is generating sustained winds of 160 mph (260 km/h) and poses significant hazards to the Caribbean region.

As of 2 PM AST (1 PM ET) Saturday, the center of Hurricane Erin was near 19.8°N latitude and 63.3°W longitude, roughly 110 miles north of Anguilla and 205 miles east-northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Erin is moving west at 16 mph (26 km/h) and is expected to turn west-northwest tonight, followed by a northward shift early next week.

The hurricane has a central pressure of 915 millibars (27.02 inches) and hurricane-force winds extending up to 30 miles (45 km) from its center. Tropical-storm-force winds reach 140 miles (220 km), mostly to the north.


The NHC warns of heavy rainfall, flash flooding, and landslides across the northern Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

Potential impact on New York

While Erin is forecast to remain offshore as it moves along the East Coast of the United States, its trajectory will take it between Bermuda and coastal states by midweek.

The New York metropolitan area could feel Erin’s effects, according to CBS, particularly along the Jersey Shore and Long Island’s South Shore, even without a landfall, from Tuesday, August 19, through Thursday. Coastal communities may experience:

• High surf and waves up to 12 feet
  
  
• Dangerous rip currents
  
  
• Beach erosion and minor flooding
  
  
• Wind gusts between 20 and 40 mph
  

There is a slight chance that some of Erin’s outer rainbands could bring light showers. Still, inland areas, including the Hudson Valley, northern and central New Jersey, and Connecticut, are likely to see mostly cloudy skies and breezy conditions.

Historical context

This is not the first Hurricane Erin to approach New York. In 2001, a Category 3 Hurricane Erin passed roughly 500 miles southeast of the city during the September 11 attacks.

The 2025 storm is the seventh use of the name since the late 1980s; previous Erins did not cause enough destruction to retire the name.

How is Hurricane Erin named?

Hurricane Erin was named according to the official Atlantic hurricane naming system maintained by the World Meteorological Organization. The Atlantic hurricane season uses six rotating lists of names, recycled every six years, with names assigned alphabetically as storms reach tropical storm strength (winds of 39 mph or higher).

Names alternate between male and female; a name is only retired if a storm is deadly or destructive. Erin has been used seven times since the late 1980s because previous storms with this name did not cause catastrophic damage.

The storm receives its name once it becomes a tropical storm, regardless of how strong it later intensifies on the Saffir-Simpson scale.