The National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported this Friday that Erin has become the first hurricane of this season in the Atlantic basin after reaching maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour (mph).

The NHC’s 11:00 a.m. advisory located the cyclone at latitude 18.2 degrees north and longitude 56.1 degrees west, moving west-northwest at 18 miles per hour. In other words, the system showed a slight increase in its forward motion.

“Steady to rapid strengthening is expected over the next two to three days, and Erin is forecast to become a major hurricane over the weekend,” the latest bulletin states.

“On the forecast track, the center of Erin is likely to move near or just north of the northern Leeward Islands during Saturday,” reads the public advisory.

At this time, a tropical storm watch is in effect for some of these islands, meaning that “tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area, generally within 48 hours.”

The bulletin also reports that tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 115 miles from the center.

According to the NHC, Erin is expected to produce “areas of heavy rainfall beginning Friday night and continuing through the weekend across the northern Leeward Islands, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, as well as southern and eastern Puerto Rico.”

Rainfall totals from Friday night through Monday are expected to range between 2 to 4 inches, with isolated amounts up to 6 inches, which could lead to landslides.

For that reason, the National Weather Service (NWS) in San Juan has issued a flood watch for all of Puerto Rico.

The watch will begin at midnight Friday and remain in effect until 8:00 p.m. Monday.

Similarly, the NHC warned that tropical-storm-force gusts are possible in rainbands over portions of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico late this weekend.

Meanwhile, swells generated by Erin are expected to begin affecting portions of the northern Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico this weekend, and will likely spread into the western Atlantic next week.

“These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” the report states.

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This content was translated from Spanish to English using artificial intelligence and was reviewed by an editor before being published.