The National Hurricane Center's 11 o'clock advisory states:

At 1100 AM AST (1500 UTC), the center of Hurricane Erin was located

near latitude 18.2 North, longitude 56.1 West. Erin is moving toward

the west-northwest near 18 mph (30 km/h). This motion is expected

to continue into the weekend. On the forecast track, the center of

Erin is likely to move near or just north of the northern Leeward

Islands over the weekend.

Reports from NOAA and Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft

indicate that maximum sustained winds have increased to near 75 mph

(120 km/h) with higher gusts. Steady to rapid strengthening is

expected during the next two to three days, and Erin is forecast to

become a major hurricane during the weekend.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 25 miles (35 km) from the

center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 115 miles

(185 km) mainly to the north of the center .

The latest minimum central pressure reported by the NOAA and Air

Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft is 996 mb (29.42 inches).

Joey Brooks