If a storm is a Category 3, 4 or 5, it is deemed a "major" hurricane due to the potential for "significant loss of life and damage," the National Hurricane Center says. Hurricanes that fall into categories 1 or 2 are still considered dangerous, the center says.

The National Hurricane Center on Friday kept watch on two developing systems in the Atlantic that could become the season’s next tropical depression or storm while Hurricane Erin shifted

Strong winds and waves battered Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard and dangerous rip currents threatened from the Carolinas to New England as Hurricane Erin made its way farther out to sea. The storm was forecast to cause possible coastal flooding into the weekend along the East Coast but was also expected to gradually lose

Beach and weather conditions improved Friday in Maryland as Hurricane Erin moved out to sea. The storm did not make landfall in the U.S., but moved north parallel to the East Coast.