The already sprawling storm will grow larger as it hurls the ocean toward the East Coast and Bermuda, and it could have company this week.

Holly Andrzejewski hadn't yet welcomed her and her family's first guests to the Atlantic Inn on Hatteras Island when she had to start rescheduling them, as Hurricane Erin neared North Carolina’s Outer Banks on Tuesday and threatened to whip up wild waves and tropical force winds.

Hurricane Erin on Monday bulked back up, but then dropped back down, although still a major Category 3 storm as it moved near the Bahamas with an increasing wind field that prompted new tropical

Hurricane Erin, now a Category 2 hurricane, has prompted a tropical storm watch for North Carolina's Outer Banks and is expected to bring dangerous waves and rip currents to beaches along the East Coast. Here's the latest forecast:

“Erin is a large hurricane,” forecasters said, noting that hurricane-force winds extend up to 80 miles from the storm’s center, with tropical-storm-force winds reaching up to 205 miles.

Despite Hurricane Erin’s offshore path, parts of the U.S. east coast face life-threatening surf and rip currents. Meanwhile, forecasters are watching two new systems for potential formation

Hurricane Erin is a huge Category 4 storm and is expected to both grow larger and stronger today as it moves toward the west-northwest. The center of the storm is expected to remain offshore as it moves between the U.S. and Bermuda.

As of 7 a.m. CDT Monday, the center of Category 4 Hurricane Erin was located about 115 miles north-northeast of Grand Turk Island, or 890 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and was tracking to the northwest at 13 mph.

Much of North Carolina’s Outer Banks region is under a tropical storm watch with Hurricane Erin expected to skirt the area Wednesday through Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Erin is maintaining its strength as a major hurricane, churning in the Atlantic Ocean and delivering tropical storm force winds to Turks and Caicos and parts of the Bahamas. Erin’s influence will be increasingly felt along the tri-state area’s coastline during the latter half of the week.

Erin’s sustained winds increased to 70 mph, just 4 mph shy of hurricane strength. The hurricane center said Erin should continue to strengthen through the weekend, when it should be moving near or north of the Leeward Islands, according to the official forecast path.

The storm will remain a major hurricane through the middle of the week, according to the National Hurricane Center.