A tropical depression that this morning appeared to have little chance to grow stronger is now the season's first tropical depression and is expected to become the first named storm by late tonight or early Friday.
If that happens, the storm will beat the hurricane season by several days. The season officially begins Monday.
Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center say the storm will not be any threat to land as it moves northeast at 17 mph from its birthplace about 225 miles east northeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C.
Warm water from the Gulf Stream is keeping the depression alive and should provide enough fuel for it to barely reach tropical storm strength on Friday with winds of 39 mph.
If it reaches that threshold, the depression will become Tropical Storm Ana.
Around 11 p.m. Thursday, the depression was centered about 255 miles south-southeast of Nantucket, Mass., and about 500 miles south-southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The forecast does not call for Ana to remain a tropical storm much more than 24 hours as it moves away from the Gulf Stream and starts losing strength.
If forecasts prove accurate, this would be the third year in a row a named storm formed before the June 1 start of hurricane season.
Tropical Storm Arthur formed May 31, 2008. Subtropical Storm Andrea formed May 6, 2007, followed by Tropical Storm Barry on May 31.
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