Even though Erin will be well off shore, the shear large size of the storm will likely send tropical storm force winds (39 miles per hour or higher) into the Outer Banks and gusting tropical winds may also be felt on nearby mid-Atlantic beaches Wednesday into Friday.

Although the storm is expected to stay offshore, it will produce dangerous surf conditions for much of the Atlantic Coast this week, forecasters say.

Hurricane Erin continues to churn in the Atlantic waters hundreds of miles off the coast, but New Jersey and Delaware beaches will still be feeling impacts from the storm through the week.

The National Hurricane Center's prediction cone shows a westward trajectory, but doesn't paint a clear picture whether or not it's likely to impact the east coast of the United States. Spaghetti models, which represent a collection of predicted paths generated by multiple computer models, paint a more definitive picture as of Wednesday morning.

At 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 11, the center of Tropical Storm Erin was located near latitude 17.4 North, longitude 28.0 West. Erin is moving toward the west near 20 mph, and this motion is expected to continue for the next several days.

For now, most reliable computer models that meteorologists use show Erin curving away from the United States, spinning off the East Coast later in August.

The Outer Banks is also under a tropical storm warning; Erin is forecast to hit the islands with heavy rain and rough winds on Wednesday night. Erin will intensify on Wednesday, and its wind field will widen significantly,