Erin Went From A Category 1 To A Category 5 In 24 Hours And 20 Minutes - Earliest Cat 5 Ever In The Open Atlantic

Strengthening at a jaw-dropping pace, Hurricane Erin – which had reached Category 1 strength at 11 a.m. EDT Friday, August 15 – was officially proclaimed a Category 5 storm at 11:20 a.m. EDT Saturday. As of 2 p.m. EDT Saturday, Erin’s top sustained winds were at 160 mph. Erin is the earliest cat 5 storm ever recorded in the open Atlantic (the area north and east of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico), and it’s one of the Atlantic’s fastest-strengthening storms on record. Erin was located about 110 miles north of Antigua, moving just north of due west at 16 mph. Erin’s central pressure was 915 mb.

Erin is the planet’s second Category 5 storm of 2025, arriving exactly four months after the first one. Cyclone Errol developed off the coast of northwest Australia and rapidly intensified from cat 1 to cat 5 strength in less than 24 hours on April 15–16. Errol then weakened drastically before coming onshore as a tropical low.

Erin’s well-structured circulation took advantage of upper-level support and unusually warm sea surface temperature for mid-August. Wind shear of 5-10 knots was a bit lighter than expected, and Erin’s compact size made it easier for the hurricane to strengthen quickly. Oceanic heat content below the surface was not exceptionally high, but Erin’s brisk west-northwest pace of 15-20 mph ensured access to a steady supply of warm water along the hurricane’s path despite fierce winds churning up the sea surface.

Rapid intensification is one of the most dangerous aspects of hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones, especially when it occurs in the day or so prior to landfall. As recently documented by Jeff Masters here at Eye on the Storm, episodes of rapid intensification are multiplying with human-caused climate change, hand in hand with sustained warming of the planet’s oceans.

EDIT

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/08/erin-vaults-from-tropical-storm-to-category-5-hurricane-in-just-25-hours/