Andrew92 wrote:However, just because it "looks" better than some storms doesn't mean it's stronger. The eye feature is impressive looking, but it also lasted a very short period of time. I seem to recall one tropical storm a few years ago that had an almost very distinct eye on satellite, but the feature only lasted very briefly. There was debate over whether or not it was a hurricane, but the judgment was that the "eye" was too transient to warrant an upgrade.
Like I said, Erin could possibly have been tropical, but only for a very brief period of time. Calling it a "low" was probably the correct move.
-Andrew92
It definitely was not a hurricane (or a hurricane-strength anything) since no sustained wind data came anywhere near 65 kt.