The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has warned that Tropical Storm Erin is expected to strengthen and could become a major hurricane over the weekend as it shifts just north of the northern Leeward Islands,

As of the latest update, issued at 4 a.m. CDT Thursday, Tropical Storm Erin was located about 990 miles east of the Leeward Islands and was on a path to the west at 17 mph. (The next update will come later this morning, and updates will become more frequent once watches and warnings go into effect for the storm.)