Hurricane Erin was a Category 4 storm Monday morning and is expected to retain major hurricane status through the middle of the week.

Erin is expected to produce life-threatening surf and rip currents along the beaches of the Bahamas, much of the east coast of the U.S. and Bermuda during the next several days. Rip current alerts extend along most of Florida's coastline with a high rip current risk for Palm Beach County and moderate risk for Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

Hurricane Erin has triggered a state of emergency in North Carolina, where residents and visitors along the Outer Banks are under evacuation orders.

The National Hurricane Center is tracking four tropical disturbances in the Atlantic, according to the 8 a.m. Friday, Aug. 22, advisory from the National Hurricane Center. Invest 90L near the Leeward Islands is "very likely" to become a tropical depression or tropical storm over the weekend. If so, it would become Fernand.

Hurricane Erin is continuing to inch closer to the United States, and the storm is expected to bring dangerous high surf and life-threatening rip currents to Florida through the middle of the week.

Users were impressed by the perspective captured in the viral post, with one describing it as "beautiful and terrifying."

Weather hazard maps have nearly 100 colors including six variations of red, a "bisque," "moccasin," cornflower blue, and Dodger blue. Experts are working to simplify the alerts.