Hurricane Erin continues to rapidly intensify in the Atlantic Ocean with its outer bands starting to impact the northern Leeward Islands.

Jean-Raymond Bidlot, senior scientist in ocean modeling at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) told Newsweek that Erin is forecast to strengthen over the next week as it heads toward the U.S. East Coast, reaching peak intensity offshore from Cape Hatteras.

A westward-moving tropical wave could produce an area of low pressure in the tropical Atlantic late in the week of Aug. 18, the hurricane center said on Aug. 16. The center shows a 20% chance of storm formation over the next week.

Forecasters are watching a tropical disturbance with very high chances of formation as it moves west of Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. The low pressure system, causing strong winds and rough seas, is near the northwest Cabo Verde Islands and has a 90% chance of organizing into a tropical depression over the next two days.

Even if a tropical depression does not form over the next day or so, environmental conditions appear conducive for later development, and a tropical depression is likely to form by the middle to latter portion of this

Erin formed in the eastern Atlantic Ocean on Monday and is strengthening as it moves westward. The NHC said there is still uncertainty about what impact it could have on states like Florida on the U.S. East Coast, as well as the Bahamas and Bermuda.

Get an abbreviated, text view of what's happening with Hurricane Erin. Erin has become the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. It's expected to become a strong Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph within the next 72 hours,