Sunday’s Did You Know…

🌀#Erin is the 11th Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic Basin since 2016. 🤯

Map Credit: Michael Ferragamo

Erin's Explosive Intensification w/Joe Knows:

We began watching the area of instability that eventually formed Hurricane Erin several days before the storm was officially named Monday of this past week (8/11/25).

The system remained a tropical storm as it traveled westward across the Atlantic, weakening slightly mid-week as it battled cooler waters. Thanks to warmer waters in the western Atlantic, Erin began a period of explosive rapid intensification starting on Friday, going from a tropical storm to Category 5 in just under 30 hours, and from a Category 3 to a Category 5 in just under 6 hours! Erin has also joined a rare group of only five hurricanes that have wind speeds of at least 145 mph by August 16 since 1970, according to Dr. Phil Klotzbach. Erin is the first Category 5 hurricane since Milton and Beryl in 2024.

Erin began to undergo an eyewall replacement cycle on Saturday afternoon, setting off a period of fluctuation in intensity and bringing the storm back to Category 4 intensity by Saturday evening. While Erin has been skirting around islands in the Caribbean, a wind gust of 57 mph was recorded on the island Tortola in the British Virgin Islands Saturday evening, but sustained tropical-storm-force winds have remained to the north of the islands so far. Saturday it maintained mostly a western track, a potentially closer track to the United States (even as largely a ‘fish storm’) could have deadly consequences up and down the eastern coast from rough surf and life-threatening rip currents.

~Stay in the know w/your Cup of Joe Knows: ⛈️Monday’s “EMOJI 4-Cast” I’ll bring you the latest on Erin and what’s brewing next in the Atlantic… Busy season ahead I’m afraid. When You Need To Know:

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