Hurricane Erin’s passage far off shore created nearly perfect conditions for surfers along much of Florida’s coast. Miami Herald photographer Alie Skowronski spent Thursday morning on the beach in Stuart and caught amazing action on waves estimated at eight feet and higher.

Hurricane Erin is entering the first stages of a post-tropical transition as it continues to move away from the eastern coast of the United States.

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

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

The hatched areas on the National Hurricane Center's tropical outlook map indicate "areas where a tropical cyclone — which could be a tropical depression, tropical storm or hurricane — could develop," said National Hurricane Center Deputy Director Jamie Rhome.

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