Hurricane Center Director: Dorian May Feature Days of Wind, Rain

Even if Hurricane Dorian makes some sort of shift, people living in Florida must be prepared, as they'll see "some impact from the storm," Ken Graham, the director of the National Hurricane Center, said Friday.

"Already, we have the tropical storm-force winds extending out," Graham told CNN's "New Day."

"It's hard not to think of this as a point or a line. It's larger than that."

After the morning update on the storm, Graham told CNN that the first images from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellites show the storm's structure is getting stronger.

"The big thing from the forecast, we had to slow it down," said Graham, explaining that the slower the storm moves, the more time it has to become stronger.

The storm is now expected to make landfall on Tuesday, but Graham stressed that there is still an area of tropical storm-force winds 90 miles away from the center, so the impacts of the winds could be felt as early as Sunday night.

But while the wind gets the most attention, 90% of fatalities from tropical storm systems come from water, said Graham.

"Some places could get 6 or 10 inches [of rain], maybe 15 in some isolated spots," he said, adding that there is also danger of a massive storm surge as a result of the growing hurricane.

He urged Floridians to have their storm preparations wrapped up before the tropical storm winds start to hit, which will make it too dangerous to be outside.

"You have to have things wrapped up," said Graham. "You don't want to be carrying plywood around in those types of winds. [By] Sunday at 8 p.m., we're looking at the potential of those tropical storm-force winds offshore, then moving overnight through Monday over the coast all the way inland."

He noted that experts always think about the wind and the rain forecast, but another important factor is the speed of the storm itself.

"One of the changes overnight has been to slow down the storm a little bit," said Graham. "We could have a very major hurricane right on the coast ... but even by Wednesday, [it is] very slowly moving up the coast of Florida per the current forecast. We're talking a day or two with some of these hurricane-force winds."

• Hurricane Dorian Grows in Power, Could Hit Florida as Cat. 4
• Trump Cancels Poland Trip as Hurricane Dorian Approaches Florida