Hurricane season officially started back in June, and it’s now starting to pick up. Tropical Storm Erin has formed in the Atlantic and is currently heading towards the East Coast of the U.S.A. With the busy period of hurricane season just around the corner, it’s important to start getting ready for major storms.
Here’s what we know about Tropical Storm Erin so far:
The Birth of Tropical Storm Erin
Erin began, according to AccuWeather, as a “cluster of showers and thunderstorms that moved off the African coast last week.” “last week” being the week of August 4, 2025. On Sunday morning (August 10), the rainstorm strengthened into a tropical rainstorm near the Cabo Verde Islands.
It was one of three tropical systems that the National Hurricane Center was tracking, named Invest 96L. On August 6, Fox 35 reported that “Forecast models suggest Invest 96L will eventually curve northward into the open Atlantic, potentially avoiding land. However, there is still no definitive track” for the system.
At that time, it wasn’t guaranteed that the system would gather enough strength to become a tropical storm. The NHC had given it a 60% chance of development within the next seven days from the sixth of August. Just five days later, it officially became a named storm.
Will Tropical Storm Erin Impact Florida?
The current track of Tropical Storm Erin is still unclear as of the time of this writing. Whether it will impact Florida directly or miss the U.S. entirely depends on how strong the storm becomes as it approaches the East Coast.
One AccuWeather projection showed that if the storm becomes stronger, its path may curve over the Caribbean and impact Florida’s western edge. If the storm remains weaker, it will still trend towards the U.S., but steer away from the coast.
However, more recent AccuWeather projections show that, even on the closest approach, the eye of the storm shouldn’t make landfall in Florida:
Fox 35 reported that “Should Erin grow considerably in size and strength, tropical storm conditions may extend outward 100 miles or more.” That would be large enough to impact most of the panhandle if Erin tracks close to Florida even without actually making landfall.
How to Prepare for Hurricane Erin in a Hurry
Should Erin approach the Florida coast with strong winds, it’s important to prepare as best as you can for strong winds and rains. While some of the best hurricane protection measures (such as installing hurricane windows and doors) would take too long to be ready in time for Erin’s impacts if it draws close to the coast, there are a few things you can do on short notice:
- Get an emergency backup generator or portable cooking stove. If the storm knocks out your power, you’ll want a convenient way to keep preparing your food while you wait for your power to be restored.
- Fill a bathtub with water for sanitation needs. When a major storm draws near, consider filling your bathtub with water to use for flushing your toilets, wetting towels for personal hygiene needs, and other sanitary uses.
- Stock up on drinking water containers. Purchase drinking water for your home. This can be in single-serve plastic bottles or larger jugs for a water dispenser. If you have water bottles from a prior year, check the ‘use by’ date, as water can become unsafe to drink even when kept in a container.
- Get sandbags to act as barriers around your doors. Storm surges can bring dirty water right against your doors. Create a barrier around your doors to help keep out the worst of the dirty water high winds can push through Florida.
- Get non-perishable foods that don’t require cooking to eat. Canned foodstuffs can be a great way to weather the storm if you’re sheltering in place. Don’t forget your pets, either! Stock up on a couple of weeks’ worth of food for them, too!
- Board up your windows. If you haven’t had time to replace your windows with HVHZ-rated hurricane impact windows, use plywood boards to cover your windows to keep lesser debris and winds from destroying your windows.
- Check your hurricane evacuation route. If the storm is strong enough, you may need to evacuate your home. Check with the Floridadisaster.org disaster preparedness maps page to find your evacuation zone and identify your evacuation routes.
- Assemble an evacuation kit. When an evacuation warning is issued, you need to be able to act on it as soon as possible. Assemble a kit of emergency evacuation necessities to take with you on the road as you leave. The Ready.Gov website has a list of basics to include in your kit, such as:
- Water
- Food
- Battery or hand-crank radio
- Flashlight
- First aid kit
- Extra batteries
- Whistle
- Plastic sheeting, scissors, and tape
- Moist towelettes
- Tools
- Maps
- Cell phone
- Prescription medications
With any hurricane, preparedness is the best way to protect your home and your family.
Get Ready for the Next Big Storm with Hurricane Impact Windows & Doors
While boarding up your windows can be a decent short-term solution to protect your home from hurricane impacts, it isn’t ideal. Plywood boards, if not secured properly, can easily be peeled from the window frame.
To protect your home from hurricanes in the long term, upgrade your windows and doors to impact windows and doors. These upgraded opening protections can take heavy punishment from harsh storms without requiring you to install unsightly wooden boards.
Impact windows provide year-round protection without you having to think about it, too. So whether its Tropical Storm Erin, Hurricane Erin, or a simple baseball to your window, you can rest easy knowing that your home is protected. Save time and enhance your peace of mind by replacing your windows and doors as soon as possible to protect against the next big storm. Reach out to Karoly Windows and Doors to book an in-person consultation for replacing your existing windows with impact-resistant windows that can stand up to storms like Tropical Storm Erin!
