AccuWeather's Alex DaSilva was live on the AccuWeather Network on Aug. 20 to discuss the latest on Hurricane Erin.

East Coast of the United States

Hurricane Erin is intensifying and expanding as it approaches the East Coast of the United States. Data from aircraft flying into the storm indicate that Erin has undergone multiple eyewall replacement cycles, which have expanded its wind field. The storm's reach now extends from North Carolina to the Bahamas, with warm sea surface temperatures and reduced wind shear contributing to its growth.

Experts do not expect a landfall but note that the hurricane could come within 200 miles of the coast, potentially increasing its impact depending on its precise track. The main concerns are strong rip currents and powerful surf along the coastline, with meteorologists closely monitoring any westward shifts that could bring the storm closer to land.

Hurricane Erin to intensify today

All right, joining us right now is AccuWeather lead hurricane expert Alex DeSilva. And, you know, Alex, when hurricanes get this close to the United States, the National Hurricane Center continues to fly planes into Aaron. Getting the latest information, there is a plane in Aaron right now. Yeah, we're continuously looking at some of this data coming in from the great Air Force pilots that are flying around in the plane, in the hurricane there. And they're giving us great data suggesting that the wind field continues to expand this morning. The storm has at least undergone two eyewall replacement cycles, which really helps to expand the wind field. That's a completely normal process in these really powerful hurricanes. But what it does, one of the byproducts is it really expands that wind field. Look at how massive the storm's reach is. These clouds extend from North Carolina all the way off the coast of the Bahamas here. So really, really expansive wind field. And this is why we're so concerned about the rip currents and the powerful surf all the way up the East Coast. And it also looks as though, Alex, as we zoom on in, that Aaron is still jogging a little west. So we do believe this will likely get inside 74 degrees west. We'll get to that in a second. But you were talking about the expanding wind field. You could really see it over the last 24 hours. Yeah, if we run this satellite image through, you can really see the storm expanding. And then in that last frame, you can just see kind of a classic hurricane look to it there, with those outer rain bands expanding out from the center of circulation. It dealt with some dry air yesterday, but it was really able to overcome that during the overnight hours. And I think a lot of that actually has to do with the warm sea surface temperatures that it's moving over right now. Middle 80s right now. We typically look for about 80 degrees or so to sustain that tropical development. We're well above that. And you can really see, if we put this into motion here, the lungs of the storm. Look on the northern side of the storm. The storm is pushing away that dry air, pushing that yellow out of its way right now. That's the storm essentially breathing. It had a little bit of trouble this time yesterday, but now that it's gotten into those warm waters, wind shear has come down a little bit. It has really started to balloon out and really expand. And you can see that wind shear there, the light purple indicating lower wind shear values. Look where the center is located, right in the middle of that lighter pink color there. Lower wind shear is allowing the storm to breathe. All right. This has always been the second fork in the road. The first fork in the road was Monday, Tuesday. How far west would it go? We were all concerned it would easily get west of 70 degrees west. That 75 degree west is the line just east of the outer banks of North Carolina. We don't think it's going to get that far west because of this dip in the jet stream coming into the east today and tonight. Yeah, but these little wobbles still concern me a little bit because even a difference of 25 miles can make a big difference for the Carolina coastline. So this thing just jogged a little bit west here over the last couple of hours. Again, we don't expect a landfall or anything like that, but maybe it could get within 200 miles of the coast. Right now, the center of our cone takes it about 200 to 215 miles or so off the coast. And that's the center of the cone. But if it jogs a little bit more to the west, those impacts are going to be even greater. Luckily, that trough is coming into the northeast. That's going to be the kicker. So this will turn to the north and east. But the question is, how much westward gain is it going to get over the next 12 hours? And that's why we continue to have that western window a little farther to the west than the actual storm center. That's the possibility. AccuWeather lead hurricane expert Alex DaSilva. Alex, thanks for joining us here on AccuWeather Early. We'll talk to you later on this morning.

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