At a Glance

Hurricane Lorenzo is sending swells thousands of miles from where it's tracked through the Atlantic.The largest wave heights near its center could top 100 feet.Rip currents and minor coastal erosion could occur more than 2,000 miles away on Florida's Atlantic coast.

Hurricane Lorenzo is churning up high surf for thousands of miles across the northern Atlantic Ocean, and it could produce waves more than 100 feet high near its center early this week.

Lorenzo has been producing a large area of tropical-storm-force winds since it became a hurricane last Wednesday. This area now extends more than 200 miles from Lorenzo's center. When strong winds in a hurricane blow across a large swath of the ocean for several days, the resulting swells can emanate in all directions for hundreds or even thousands of miles.

Waves 7 feet or higher from Lorenzo were by Tuesday, as pointed out in a tweet by Eric Blake, hurricane specialist with the National Hurricane Center.

Wave heights 7 feet or higher are forecast on Tuesday in the area highlighted by the contours. The largest waves are predicted to be near Lorenzo's center in orange, red and pink.

Significant wave heights near the center of Lorenzo were also forecast to be up to , according to NOAA's Ocean Prediction Center. Since significant wave heights are the , then individual wave heights near the center of Lorenzo could be twice as high, or more than 100 feet.

Swells generated by Lorenzo will affect locations as far west as the U.S. East Coast and as far east as western Europe this week.

Lorenzo's swells in combination with high astronomical tides will cause on Florida's Atlantic coast, according to the National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida. That's more than 2,000 miles away from where Lorenzo was centered on Monday morning.

Even hurricanes far from the U.S. can generate swells that pose a danger to those venturing near or in coastal waters.

Hurricane Bill tracked through the western Atlantic and well off the East Coast in 2009, but its rough seas were blamed for . In 2003, Hurricane Fabian tracked close to Bermuda but was still

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