NOAA's GOES-19 satellite captured images of Hurricane Erin as it developed in the Atlantic and then rapidly strengthened into a Category 5 storm.

Hurricane Erin is intensifying again. Now back up to Category 4. And the storm is growing in size. Outer bands are lashing the Caribbean islands and will impact the southern end of the Bahamian chain today.

Rip currents are the third leading cause of deaths from hurricanes, and they can happen on a sunny day hundreds of miles from the storm.

Tropical Storm Erin -- which is forecast to strengthen into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season by Saturday morning -- won't have a direct impact on the U.S., but it will bring dangerous rip currents to the East Coast.

Hurricane Erin was a Category 4 storm again Monday morning and is expected to grow even larger and stronger, according to the latest advisory from the National Hurricane Center. Although Erin is forecast to move north between the U.S. and Bermuda, life-threatening surf and rip currents are likely across the Atlantic coast from Florida to Canada.

While Erin is expected to take a northward turn in the Atlantic, a new system off the coast of Africa has the National Hurricane Center's attention.

The storm will remain a major hurricane through the middle of the week, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Erin, the first hurricane of the season, exploded to a Category 5 hurricane Saturday, and despite fluctuations in intensity, the storm is remaining formidable this weekend. Here's where it could head in the week ahead.