Meteorologists are closely tracking the projected path and forecast of Hurricane Erin, which is the first hurricane to develop over the Atlantic this year.

The Ocean City Beach Patrol has closed the ocean to swimming, wading and surfing Tuesday as tropical storm activity off the coast brings dangerous conditions to the resort town.

The National Hurricane Center warned that Hurricane Erin is becoming ‘better organized’ as it moves northward through the Atlantic, triggering dangerous rip currents.

Erin is the fifth named storm to develop during the Atlantic hurricane season, which started just over two months ago. Last week, Tropical Storm Dexter formed in the western Atlantic but didn't pose a threat to land. In early July, Tropical Storm Chantal made landfall on the Carolina coast, bringing deadly flooding to the region.

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.

Erin has weakened to a Category 2 hurricane. Erin is expected to stay at category. Erin has tropical storm force winds stretching out over 200 miles from the center. The entire wind field of Erin stretches over 500 miles.

A disturbance in the Atlantic following Hurricane Erin is now expected to track northward, according to NHC data.

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