Even though Erin is expected to stay hundreds of miles offshore, its impacts are forecast to worsen as it crawls northward and makes its closest approach to the U.S. mainland. Erin was generating waves of 35 feet or more at an ocean buoy east-northeast of the Bahamas on Aug. 19, creating swells and stirring up a broad swath of the ocean.

From Florida to New England, people trying to enjoy some of the last hurrahs of summer along the East Coast have been met with rip-current warnings, closed beaches and in some cases already treacherous waves as Hurricane Erin inches closer.