Tropical Storm Erin is continuing to pick up strength as it moves across the Atlantic, with forecasters expecting the storm to officially strengthen into a hurricane on Friday, Aug. 15, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Tropical Storm Erin formed in the eastern Atlantic Ocean on Monday, forecasters said. The storm could strengthen to become the Atlantic's first hurricane of the season.

Erin is predicted to become a "powerful and increasingly a large hurricane over the southwestern Atlantic over the weekend and into next week," the NHC says.