Hurricane Erin, Tropical
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Hurricane Erin, East Coast and Beaches
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Hurricane Erin has been downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane but is gaining in size and raising the risk of life-threatening surf later this week along the U.S.
Two more tropical systems trail Hurricane Erin, which is following a projected course that brushes past the East Coast without making landfall.
The Ocean City Beach Patrol has closed the ocean to swimming, wading and surfing Tuesday as tropical storm activity off the coast brings dangerous conditions to the resort town.
While forecasters remain confident the center of the storm will remain far offshore, the outer edges are likely to bring damaging tropical-force winds, large swells and life-threatening rip currents.
The storm will remain a major hurricane through the middle of the week, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Most of Erin’s intensification occurred during a 12- to 15-hour window overnight, according to Dan Pydynowski, a meteorologist at AccuWeather. By 5 p.m. Friday, Erin’s winds had remained only 75 mph.
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.