Powerful Hurricane Erin has undergone a period of astonishingly rapid intensification — a phenomenon that has become far more common in recent years as the planet warms. It was a rare Category 5 for a time Saturday before becoming a Category 4,

Hurricane Erin has passed over the Caribbean’s northern Leeward Islands, including Sint-Maarten, Saba, and Sint-Eustatius, as a Category 4 storm, causing minimal structural damage but prompting widespread safety warnings,