The storm will remain a major hurricane through the middle of the week, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Hurricane Erin brought intense rainfall to the U.S. Virgin Islands as it passed through the region Sunday. The storm, which had weakened to a Category 3, did not make a direct landfall but dropped as much as six inches of rain on the Outer Banks.

Hurricane Erin weakened to a Category 3 storm with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph as its outer bands pounded the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with gusty winds and heavy rains early Sunday.

Powerful Hurricane Erin has undergone a period of astonishingly rapid intensification — a phenomenon that has become far more common in recent years as the planet warms. It was a rare Category 5 for a time Saturday before becoming a Category 4,

Sunday features hot temperatures with very high humidity, with dew points once again at or a little above 70 degrees for many of us. An uneventful cold front passing through the area Sunday night will bring an end to this one-day heat fest, and now it’s on to cooler temperatures to start the work week.

A westward-moving tropical wave could produce an area of low pressure in the tropical Atlantic late in the week of Aug. 18, the hurricane center said on Aug. 16. The center shows a 20% chance of storm formation over the next week.

Hurricane Erin is passing the Caribbean to its north as a powerful Category 5 cyclone. The hurricane is expected to maintain its intensity for the next several days, while generating dangerous waves along the Southeast coast.