Erin may strengthen into a major Category 3 hurricane Wednesday night, forecasters say. The worst impacts at the Jersey Shore will occur on Thursday.

Atlantic City, Wildwood, Margate, and Ocean City are among the towns that have banned ocean swimming as the hurricane moves north.

The Outer Banks is also under a tropical storm warning; Erin is forecast to hit the islands with heavy rain and rough winds on Wednesday night. Erin will intensify on Wednesday, and its wind field will widen significantly,

Hurricane Erin remains a powerful storm as it churns in the Atlantic on Tuesday morning with the system expected to cause dangerous conditions at East Coast beaches for days. As of Tuesday morning, Erin was located about 720 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras,