Conditions along the coast are expected to deteriorate Wednesday as Hurricane Erin moves north-northwest off Florida.

Hurricane Erin on Wednesday grew in size as it made its way up into the Atlantic off the U.S. East Coast with tropical-storm conditions forecast to hit North Carolina and dangerous surf left

Even though Erin is expected to stay hundreds of miles offshore, its impacts are forecast to worsen as it crawls northward and makes its closest approach to the U.S. mainland. Erin was generating waves of 35 feet or more at an ocean buoy east-northeast of the Bahamas on Aug. 19, creating swells and stirring up a broad swath of the ocean.

Multiple warnings were in effect along the East Coast on Wednesday, as officials warned of a "life-threatening" situation.

On Wednesday morning, Hurricane Erin was several hundred miles off the coast of Florida and beginning to push storm surge and deadly rip currents toward the shore. Two other systems may form right

Hurricane Erin continues to churn in the Atlantic waters hundreds of miles off the U.S., prompting officials to close beaches along the East Coast from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast due to massive waves and potentially deadly rip currents just as families take their final vacations of the summer.

A massive, churning Hurricane Erin is turning the Atlantic into a danger zone for beachgoers from Florida to Massachusetts, prompting urgent warnings to stay out of the water as life-threatening surf and rip currents pound the East Coast on Wednesday,