Tropical Wave Could Be Next Tropical Depression

Hurricane Erin will remain well off the Eastern Seaboard through Friday, but will still churn up dangerous surf and rip currents, coastal flooding and bring gusty conditions to parts of the Northeast.

Erin will stay well offshore, but the oversized hurricane will spread its influence to the Interstate-95 corridor through Friday, before moving into the northern Atlantic this weekend.

The most widespread threat will be high surf and rip currents on the Atlantic shores, from Florida to Maine. Scores of people have already been rescued from North Carolina rip currents.

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(MORE: What A Life Guard Wants You To Know About Rip Currents)

Encompassing all of a hurricane's hazards, rip currents and rough seas have historically made up one-in-six of direct hurricane deaths. It is best to just stay out of the Atlantic Ocean this week.

Rip currents can occur even if it is not raining or even windy in your location.

Waves will become increasingly choppy from south to north as Erin makes its way northward. Breaking waves of 5-13 feet are possible from the Jersey Shore to Long Island.

Coastal flooding over multiple high tides is expected, with the high tide of greatest concern Thursday evening, especially from the Jersey Shore south in favored locations that typically flood in impactful weather events. This will last through at least Friday evening's high tides.

While Erin will not make landfall, it could bring gusty winds through Friday along the Eastern Seaboard. Some seaside locations could see gusts over 40 mph for short periods. Isolated power outages are possible.

The biggest reason that this hurricane will bring impacts to the coast is that Erin's size is large and still growing. Erin's diameter of tropical storm force winds will grow to almost 700 miles across by Friday morning.

This expansion stirs up more of the ocean and atmosphere and moves more water toward the U.S. coast.

Jonathan Belles has been a digital meteorologist for weather.com for 9 years and also assists in the production of videos for The Weather Channel en español. His favorite weather is tropical weather, but also enjoys covering high-impact weather and news stories and winter storms. He's a two-time graduate of Florida State University and a proud graduate of St. Petersburg College.