Will Hurricane Erin impact Massachusetts? Yes, here's where and how

Date:2025-08-20 21:24:23 Category:US Views:1 Comment:0

While Hurricane Erin will stay off-shore of Massachusetts, the coastal part of the state will feel the impact.

The National Weather Service Boston says the storm will "was well southeast of Nantucket on Friday," with the coastline of southeaster New England feeling the impact.

"High surf and dangerous rip currents along with beach erosion are anticipated on south-facing beaches, dangerous marine conditions from gale force wind gusts and high offshore waves, and potential minor coastal flooding on the Islands are the main impacts as Erin passes well offshore," the National Weather Service Boston said. "Dry weather for this weekend."

Further South, the storm is bringing 40 to 60 mph winds to the Outer Banks region of North Carolina, where evacuations orders were issued for some areas due to an expectation the waves would shut down the only highway access to Ocracoke and Hatteras islands.

More: Hurricane Erin to bring 'powerful' 20-foot waves along East Coast: Live updates

The Category 2 hurricane saw its winds weaken to as low as 100 mph on Aug. 19 as its north side battled winds, but the National Hurricane Center said early on Aug. 20 that the storm had reformed an inner eye wall, and a Hurricane Hunter mission this morning is expected to help the center determine if winds have increased in response.

"Erin is a large hurricane and growing," the weather service said the morning of Aug. 20.

Here's what to know.

Will Hurricane Erin impact Massachusetts?

Hurricane Erin crawls along the U.S. East Coast on the morning of Aug. 20, 2025.

Massachusetts has already been experiencing impacts from the storm, including rip currents and surf conditions. In Scituate, conditions were harsh enough that two beaches closed. A high surf advisory is in effect through Thursday, Aug 21.

But, according to AccuWeather, on Thursday and Friday parts of the state can also expect strong winds.

AccuWeather said wind gusts of 40-60 mph are expected "Thursday evening into Friday across parts of southeastern coastal Massachusetts, including Cape Cod."

The National Weather Service online forecaster's discussion said those kinds of gusts qualify as "gale-force" winds.

While gale-force winds could cause problems in the New England region, most of the expected flooding is relegated to southern areas of the U.S. like Virginia and North Carolina.

The National Weather Service is forecasting a chance of rain in the Bay State and the rest of New England for Wednesday, Aug. 20, but is not predicting any rain associated with Hurricane Erin later in the week.

This AccuWeather graphic shows the predicted path of Hurricane Erin, which is expected to cause some high winds in New England later this week.

What are rip currents?

They are powerful channels of fast-moving water, and they have killed about 50 people in the U.S. so far this year, according to a release last week from AccuWeather.

If you are caught in a rip current, officials advise you to swim parallel to the shore until you are out of the channel, AccuWeather noted in the release.

Hurricane Erin path tracker

This forecast track shows the most likely path of the center of the storm. It does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time.

Hurricane Erin spaghetti models

Illustrations include an array of forecast tools and models, and not all are created equal. The hurricane center uses only the top four or five highest-performing models to help make its forecasts.

What's the hurricane outlook for the 2025 season?

The AccuWeather 2025 Atlantic hurricane season forecast is predicting 13-18 named storms, including 7-10 hurricanes, adding "Three to six direct U.S. impacts are forecast, the same range as last year’s catastrophic season with six landfalls."

The report noted that the climatological peak of hurricane season begins Sept. 10.