The first tropical storm of the season has formed off the coast of Florida. Tropical Storm Arthur is expected to stay well east of Georgia as it passes by on Thursday.

Kent Frantz with the National Weather Center says is expected to stay well off Georgia’s coast. The state is on what is called the storm’s “dry side” so there won’t be much of an impact.

“We should actually have lesser chances of thunderstorms than we’ve had for several days,” said Frantz. “So we should actually have nicer weather. But it will be a few degrees above normal. We’ll be in the low to mid 90’s for the next couple days as this passes by.”

Frantz says the coast could see a slightly increased chance for showers, but nothing severe. He says the storm may brush past the Carolinas over the holiday weekend, and become a Category 1 hurricane as it nears Cape Hatteras over the weekend.

“We’re only talking a 30 to 40 percent chance. And they are not looking for a heavy rain aspect of it. That tends to be more with the center of the storm to the east and they’re well west of that as well. So the impacts to Georgia are very minimal.”

Tags: weather, tropical storm, Tropical Storm Arthur