The 5 AM advisory on Tuesday shows that Erin continues to weaken, but it is still a major hurricane. Life-threatening surf and rip currents across the East Coast of the United States this week, as Erin passes off the coast.

Much of North Carolina’s Outer Banks region is under a tropical storm watch with Hurricane Erin expected to skirt the area Wednesday through Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Outer bands from Hurricane Erin could lash the North Carolina coastline with tropical-storm-force winds and heavy rain as it passes by the Outer Banks, where a Tropical Storm Watch and a Storm Surge Watch were issued.

Two more tropical systems trail Hurricane Erin, which is following a projected course that brushes past the East Coast without making landfall.

Hurricane Erin was a Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds on Monday night as it passed to the east of the Bahamas. The forecast track keeps the center of the storm well away from the U.S. East Coast this week, but tropical storm and storm surge watches have been issued for the North Carolina Outer Banks. National Hurricane Center

Hurricane Erin forced tourists to cut their vacations short on North Carolina’s Outer Banks even though the monster storm is expected to stay offshore after lashing part of the Caribbean with rain and wind on Monday.

Erin is the first hurricane to develop over the Atlantic this year, and meteorologists are closely tracking its path and forecast.

Erin has rapidly intensified into a major hurricane. The storm officially became the first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season on Frida. As of 6 a.m. on Saturday, Erin has become a Category 4 hurricane.