Follow Tropical Storm Ophelia's path as it tracks up East Coast: Latest forecast path

Tropical Storm watches blanketed the East Coast from the Carolinas to near Washington D.C. on Saturday after Tropical Storm Ophelia made landfall along the North Carolina coast, packing maximum sustained winds of 70 mph.

"People in coastal areas should take this storm seriously," AccuWeather meteorologist Bernie Rayno told USA TODAY as the storm approached the East Coast. "This is going to be a nasty and formidable storm."

While Ophelia is forecast to weaken after landfall, forecasters are warning of life-threatening flooding in parts of eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia. Ophelia will likely bring a weekend of windy conditions and heavy rain for a huge stretch of the East Coast.

The storm's current track shows it turning north, sweeping through North Carolina, Virginia, the Washington D.C. metro area, Delaware and southern New Jersey.

LIVE UPDATES SATURDAY: Tropical Storm Ophelia makes landfall in North Carolina

Ophelia: Tropical Storm Ophelia heads for the East Coast after a surprising, confusing start.

Watch the path of Tropical Storm Ophelia here.

Tropical Storm Ophelia path tracker live

This forecast tracker shows the most likely path of the center of the storm. It does not illustrate the full width of the storm or its impacts, and the center of the storm is likely to travel outside the cone up to 33% of the time.

Tropical Storm Ophelia spaghetti models

A note about the spaghetti models: Model plot illustrations include an array of forecast tools and models, and not all are created equal. The hurricane center uses the top four or five highest-performing models to help make its forecasts.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Track Tropical Storm Ophelia as it moves up East Coast