Tropical Storm Fay forms in Atlantic; likely to soak East Coast

TAMPA, Fla. - The season’s sixth tropical storm has formed off the coast of North Carolina, but it looks like Tropical Storm Fay will primarily only be a rainmaker for the East Coast.

With winds of 45 mph and a more-defined center of circulation, Fay officially reached tropical storm status Thursday afternoon. The storm was located in the Atlantic just east of the Outer Banks and forecasters expect it to move to the northeast, hugging the coast as it goes.

“The system is expected to produce locally heavy rainfall that could cause some flash flooding across  portions of eastern North Carolina, the coastal mid-Atlantic, and southern New England during the next few days,” an earlier NHC bulletin warned.

“It really doesn’t have an opportunity to develop a whole lot,” FOX 13 meteorologist Jim Weber added.

Tropical storm warnings have been posted for the coastline from New Jersey to Rhode Island.

LINK: Track Tropical Storm Fay on MyFoxHurricane.com

Fay is the earliest named sixth storm since tropical weather recordkeeping began.

Elsewhere in the tropics, no significant development was expected over the next few days.