Meteorologists are closely tracking the projected path and forecast of Hurricane Erin, which is the first hurricane to develop over the Atlantic this year.

Forecasters are confident it will curl north and away from the eastern U.S., but tropical storm and surge watches were issued for much of North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Hold onto your hats and get out your umbrella. Connecticut is expected to see downpours Wednesday and into the evening Wednesday. Those downpours, however, are not a result of Hurricane Erin, which was a Category 2 hurricane Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said, with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph.

Hurricane Erin pelted parts of the Caribbean and was forecast to create dangerous surf and rip currents along the US East Coast this week.

Hurricane Erin underwent rapid intensification to become a Category 5 storm in just hours. It has since weakened to a Category 4 status.

As Hurricane Erin churns in the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida, its effects are being felt along Florida's coast.

Erin’s surf and storm surge could cause erosion along sections of the Florida and East Coast and shapes up as potentially worse for North Carolina’s barrier islands, which are under mandatory evacuation orders ahead of the four feet of storm surge and 20-foot offshore waves Erin is expected to bring.

Erin intensified rapidly during the early hours of Saturday. It went from being a tropical storm on Friday morning, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph, to a category 5 hurricane by 11 a.m. on Saturday,