6 days ago
Tropical Storm Erin predicted to become major hurricane. Here's what SC can expect
Brewing west of Cabo Verde, Tropical Storm Erin is moving across the Atlantic. The National Hurricane Center officially named the storm Monday morning and expects Erin will develop into the first hurricane of the season this week.
'It's forecasted to reach hurricane strength by Wednesday afternoon and major hurricane strength by Saturday afternoon,' said National Weather Service meteorologist Rachel Zouzias.
With maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, Erin is expected to reach northeast of Puerto Rico and impact currents along the southeastern United States coast by next weekend.
'As this storm moves west-northwest, the big impact for us, as it looks right now, would be rip current for the weekend,' Zouzias said. 'As the winds increase, it'll drive larger swells into our area and increase the rip current threat across our area.'
It's too soon to say how Erin will progress into next week and if it'll make landfall on the East Coast.
'We'll have to watch and see how it intensifies, how it tracks and all that,' said Zouzias. 'It's too far out to say, but it's not at this point, it's not going to hit the southeast coast.'
The NHC is also tracking two other tropical disturbances, one in the northwestern Atlantic and one in the northcentral Gulf. Neither is likely to form a cyclone, with just a 10% chance and a near-zero chance of developing into a named storm over the next seven days, respectively.
