According to weather experts, Tropical Storm Arthur is expected to become hurricane by the Fourth of July and will affect the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

The Outer Banks is a popular getaway with barrier islands along the shore off North Carolina. Arthur is the first names storm in this year's Atlantic hurricane season. It has resulted in a hurricane warning for a wide area covering North Carolina coast.

The storm is mostly expected to become strength by Thursday affecting the Fourth of July festivities. Officials closed beaches and tourist sites and delayed fireworks shows expecting heavy rain and fierce winds. The storm remained out at sea with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour early on Wednesday about 100 miles east-northeast of Cape Canaveral, Florida, and 275 miles south of Charleston, South Carolina.

Weather experts said that they have noticed the storm from Florida to North Carolina as it strengthened overnight. It might result in 2 inches of rain across the eastern Florida peninsula and coastal North Carolina. It might also produce currents along the coasts of several Southern states, according to the National Hurricane Center. The official forecast track expects that storm not to reach Maine on Friday night and warned that rip currents and big swells might affect the Maine coast.