“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.

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.

Hurricane Erin has been downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane but is gaining in size and raising the risk of life-threatening surf later this week along the U.S.