This wave is so new that the hurricane center has yet to dub it an "invest," a technical term that kicks off heightened scrutiny and allows global hurricane models to pick up the system and begin issuing estimated forecast tracks.

While the U.S. will be spared a landfall from monster Hurricane Erin, the impacts will be felt up and down the East Coast throughout the week with life-threatening coastal conditions, rip currents and big waves.

While the category 4 storm is not expected to make landfall on the U.S. east coast, it will have an impact nonetheless. Dangerous high surf and rip currents are expected from Florida to New England throughout the week.

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.

Hurricane Erin formed early Friday, Aug. 15, marking the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. Here's what to expect in NC.

Erin, the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic season, is on track to rapidly intensify over the weekend and hit Category 4 strength next week in the open ocean. The latest forecast from the National Hurricane Center calls for Erin to cruise west for the next few days — staying comfortably north of inhabited islands — before hooking north early next week and avoiding direct landfall in the Bahamas or Florida.

The National Hurricane Center is tracking a disturbance in the Gulf near Mexico while watching the path of Tropical Storm Erin.