Hurricane Erin is over 500 miles away from South Florida as of Wednesday afternoon, but the extreme size of the storm is still impacting the wind direction locally, and spreading wildfire smoke across the area.

Hurricane Erin underwent rapid intensification to become a Category 5 storm in just hours. It has since weakened to a Category 4 status.

A weakening Hurricane Erin is moving closer towards Bermuda as weather officials are keeping an eye on the two weather patterns that could  affect the region over the next seven days. The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said that Erin is an estimated 555 miles west south west of Bermuda with maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour (mph).

Forecasters are confident it will curl north and away from the eastern U.S., but tropical storm and surge watches were issued for much of North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

While the category 4 storm is not expected to make landfall on the U.S. east coast, it will have an impact nonetheless. Dangerous high surf and rip currents are expected from Florida to New England throughout the week.

The U.S. Air Force 403rd Wing released footage showing one of its planes entering the eye of Hurricane Erin. By early Tuesday, Erin had lost some strength from previous days and had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph),

Hurricane Erin made a sudden shift in trajectory Wednesday as Category 2 winds raced towards the U.S. East Coast, resulting in closed beaches and a state of emergency being declared in North Carolina.

Hurricane Erin rapidly intensified Saturday, becoming the first Category 5 hurricane of the Atlantic season after strengthening from a tropical storm in just 24 hours. The National Hurricane Center reported that Erin's maximum sustained winds more than doubled to 160 mph (255 kph) by late Saturday morning.