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 Subtropical storm Ana, the first named storm of the 2015 Atlantic
hurricane season, was on the verge of becoming a tropical storm with
maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour (72 km per hour),
according to the Miami-based weather agency announced.
A warning is now in effect for areas from South Santee River, South
Carolina to Cape Lookout, North Carolina, at the southern end of the
Outer Banks, it said.
Forecasts show the system making landfall on Sunday near the border
between North and South Carolina, with 50-55 miles per hour (80-88
km/h) winds.
Ana should remain near or over the warm waters of the Gulf Stream
current, the hurricane center said, before weakening as it
approached the coast.
 It stalled on Friday about 165 miles (265 km) south-southeast of
Myrtle Beach, a South Carolina beach and golfing resort, but was
expected to strengthen slightly as it approached the coast.
Ana's formation is the earliest appearance of a named storm in the
Atlantic since a previous incarnation of Subtropical Storm Ana on
April 20, 2003, said Jeff Masters, chief meteorologist for Weather
Underground, a commercial weather service. The Atlantic hurricane
season typically runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.
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Subtropical and tropical storms do not generate very different wind
strengths, but tropical storms cause more rain and have the
potential to rapidly intensify into hurricanes, said Masters.
Forecasters with Colorado State University predicted in April that
the Atlantic Ocean will see a "well below average" number of
hurricanes this season due to cooler Caribbean waters and the El
Niño effect.
El Niño, a warming of sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific,
increases the odds of a quiet Atlantic hurricane season. El Niño
typically brings high wind shear to the tropical Atlantic,
disrupting hurricanes as they try to form.
(Reporting by David Adams in Miami and Kevin Jose in Bengaluru;
Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, G Crosse and Jonathan Oatis)
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