"The core of Erin is expected to pass to the east of the southeastern and central Bahamas today and tonight," the National ...

Additional strengthening is expected as the storm is forecast to “remain a large and dangerous major hurricane through the ...

While the category 4 storm is not expected to make landfall on the U.S. east coast, it will have an impact nonetheless.

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.