Hurricane Erin, the first major hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, rapidly intensified Friday night, with the storm now reaching Category 5 strength with sustained winds of 160 mph.

Most of Erin’s intensification occurred during a 12- to 15-hour window overnight, according to Dan Pydynowski, a meteorologist at AccuWeather. By 5 p.m. Friday, Erin’s winds had remained only 75 mph.

Forecasters said Erin should begin to slowly weaken as it increased wind shear. However, it's predicted to remain a major hurricane until late next week.

Hurricane Erin pelted parts of the Caribbean and was forecast to create dangerous surf and rip currents along the U.S. East Coast this week.

A video shared from Puerto Rico shows foggy conditions as heavy rain fell and winds whipped across the island as Hurricane Erin spun off to the north.

After exploding in strength at a historic rate this weekend, Hurricane Erin is now a sprawling Category 4 storm churning in the Atlantic. The storm’s enormous footprint is becoming the biggest concern as it threatens to drive life-threatening rip currents and towering waves toward the eastern US coastline and Bermuda.

Erin, moving near the Leeward Islands, strengthened into a hurricane on Friday morning and is expected to pass north of Puerto Rico this weekend, the National Hurricane Center said.

Tropical Storm Erin continues to move quickly to the west and is expected to begin strengthening and become a hurricane Aug. 14 or 15.