CHARLESTON, S.C. - Weather forecasters in the United States say tropical storm Cristobal has formed off the country's southeast coast.

It's the first storm to threaten the United States this hurricane season.

The storm strengthened from a tropical depression, and forecasters predict it will bring much-needed rains to the eastern Carolinas before slipping out to sea.

At 2 p.m. EDT, the centre of the storm was about 160 kilometres east of Charleston and about 360 kilometres southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

The National Hurricane Center said Cristobal was moving northeast at about 11 kilometres per hour.

The centre of the storm, with maximum sustained winds of 65 kilometres per hour, was forecast to remain off the coast through the weekend.

But tropical storm warnings were in effect from the South Santee River in South Carolina to the North Carolina-Virginia state line, including Pamlico Sound.

Flood advisories were posted for coastal counties and Wilmington, N.C., received 60 millimetres of rain Saturday, said Stephen Keebler, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service there. Cristobal's winds were not expected to be a problem, Keebler said.

"It's some rain and a little bit of relief for the coastal areas and a lot of excitement, but that's about it," he said.

The rain bands were weakening as they spun farther inland, providing little relief for parched areas near Interstate 95 in North Carolina, he said.

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