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.

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

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

The National Hurricane Center is watching two areas of interest in the Atlantic behind Erin. Here's the latest on what may happen next.

Hurricane Erin is expected to impact the Outer Banks in North Carolina, sending massive waves crashing into the barrier islands.

Forecasters are tracking three systems in the Atlantic basin, including one with a medium chance of becoming a tropical depression later this week.

The hatched areas on the National Hurricane Center's tropical outlook map indicate "areas where a tropical cyclone — which could be a tropical depression, tropical storm or hurricane — could develop," said National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Jamie Rhome.

A westward-moving tropical wave could produce an area of low pressure in the tropical Atlantic late in the week of Aug. 18, the hurricane center said on Aug. 16. The center shows a 20% chance of storm formation over the next week.

The National Hurricane Center is tracking Tropical Storm Erin, which is expected to become a hurricane later this week.

The first area has been under the eyes of the National Hurricane Center for a few days as it emerged off Africa’s west coast.