Tropical Storm Erin on Thursday began to intensify, with the National Hurricane Center projecting it to become the season’s first hurricane on Friday and grow into a major Category 3 hurricane this weekend,

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.)

Forecasters expect the storm to develop into a hurricane, and the risk for dangerous conditions along the U.S. coast continues to increase.