Tropical storm likely in Southeast by week's end

A subtropical or tropical storm is expected to form by Thursday or Friday near the Southeast coast of the U.S., the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday. The center is giving it a 60% chance of developing.

The worst of the storm should start Friday and continue into the weekend, AccuWeather predicts, when rain and thunderstorms are likely, along with gusty winds, rough surf and minor beach erosion.

The storm should wander onshore in northern South Carolina or southeastern North Carolina during Friday night or Saturday, said AccuWeather hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski.

It's now just a disorganized cluster of showers and thunderstorms, the hurricane center said, but if its sustained winds reach 39 mph, it would be called Tropical Storm (or Subtropical Storm) Ana. This would make it the first named tropical system of the year in the Atlantic.

It is rather early in the year for a tropical storm: this system would be one of the earliest subtropical or tropical storms to affect the U.S. on record, said Weather Channel meteorologist Stu Ostro.

The differences between tropical and subtropical storms are mainly of interest only to meteorologists, as the impacts would be practically the same, whatever it's called.