Hurricane Erin briefly strengthened into a Category 5 storm. It is not expected to make a direct hit on the U.S. but will create dangerous surf.

Erin has intensified to a Category Four Hurricane as it makes its way toward the East Coast of the United States.

Hurricane Erin could 'at least double or triple in size' next week and the track has shifted south, but remains likely to turn away from the East Coast.

Hurricane Erin rapidly strengthened offshore to a “catastrophic” Category 5 storm on Saturday, as rain lashed Caribbean islands and weather officials warned of possible flash floods and landslides. The first hurricane of what is expected to be a particularly intense Atlantic season,

The NHC said it currently expected Erin to become a Category 4 storm later Saturday but to eventually swerve away from the continental United States.

Powerful Hurricane Erin has undergone a period of astonishingly rapid intensification — a phenomenon that has become far more common in recent years as the planet warms. It is now a rare Category 5, churning through the Atlantic Ocean north of the Caribbean.

Spaghetti models predict Erin will skirt the U.S. East Coast by hundreds of miles as it moves north through next week.

A westward-moving tropical wave could produce an area of low pressure in the tropical Atlantic late in the week of Aug. 18, the hurricane center said on Aug. 16. The center shows a 20% chance of storm formation over the next week.