Hurricane Erin brings swells to Florida. It's ideal for surfing but dangerous for beachgoers who see blue skies, but don't realize the dangers.

Hurricane Erin is over 500 miles away from South Florida as of Wednesday afternoon, but the extreme size of the storm is still impacting the wind direction locally, and spreading wildfire smoke across the area.

While the category 4 storm is not expected to make landfall on the U.S. east coast, it will have an impact nonetheless. Dangerous high surf and rip currents are expected from Florida to New England throughout the week.

The U.S. Air Force 403rd Wing released footage showing one of its planes entering the eye of Hurricane Erin. By early Tuesday, Erin had lost some strength from previous days and had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph),

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.

Get the complete, updated list of confirmed itinerary and port visit changes for ships impacted by Hurricane Erin.

Erin has strengthened into a hurricane as it approaches Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, bringing heavy rains that could cause flooding and landslides.

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,