Hurricane Erin started as a Category 1 storm on Friday morning. By Saturday, it had turned into a Category 5 monster with 160-mile-per-hour winds. That makes it one of the fastest-strengthening Atlantic hurricanes ever.
Rapidly developing hurricanes are just another part of our climate change reality that we will, unfortunately, have to get used to. After all, it doesn’t seem like anyone is trying to do anything about it anytime soon.
Now a re-strengthened Category 4 with 130 mph sustained winds, Erin is a massive storm with tropical storm-force winds stretching 230 miles out. It’s not expected to slam the U.S. mainland, thankfully, but don’t get too cocky.
It’s dragging a dangerous storm surge and rip currents up the East Coast, with rough surf already reaching the Carolinas and creeping toward the Northeast. Beaches are closing, and officials are warning you to stay out of the water, regardless of how it looks.
Hurricane Erin Is Officially One of the Fastest-Strengthening Storms in History
The Outer Banks of North Carolina are already under a state of emergency. Dare County issued a mandatory evacuation for Hatteras Island, where the only road in and out, N.C. Highway 12, is expected to vanish under storm surge and ocean overwash from Tuesday through Thursday.
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands took a hit from Erin’s outer bands over the weekend, with power outages affecting more than 100,000 people and flights getting canceled.
Many people may not want to hear this, but it’s true nonetheless: climate change is at the center of it all. Warmer oceans mean hurricanes like Erin have a buffet of heat to feast on. That’s why storms are intensifying faster, growing larger, and popping up earlier and more often.
Erin is the fourth straight season with a Category 5 in the Atlantic. We’ve had 11 of those since 2016. Category five storms, the most powerful hurricane that could be, used to be rare. It’s now becoming, and they have already become, commonplace thanks to climate change.
This is the part of hurricane season, August into September, when things typically heat up, and forecasters say this year will be busier than usual. So, Erin probably won’t be the last massive, deadly storm to emerge.
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