(Updates position, adds background, comment) By Michael Christie MIAMI, May 9 (Reuters) - The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season got off to an early start on Wednesday with the formation of Subtropical Storm Andrea off the U.S. coast, but it appeared unlikely to turn into a serious menace. Unlike the devastating hurricanes of 2005, which included Katrina, and others that raked Florida in 2004, Andrea was not a tropical cyclone. Lacking the warm core and organized thunderstorm activity of tropical systems, it nevertheless received the first storm name on the list for the six-month hurricane season due to officially kick off on June 1. "This one is really struggling," said Dave Roberts, a U.S. Navy hurricane specialist stationed at the Miami-based U.S. National Hurricane Center. Located around 100 miles (160 km) southeast of Savannah in the U.S. state of Georgia at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), Andrea was over relatively cool sea waters and being eroded by dry continental air. Its maximum sustained winds of 45 miles per hour (75 km per hour) were not expected to strengthen as it edged west at 3 mph (5 kph). It was expected to gradually turn to the southwest and could dissipate before reaching land. A tropical storm watch was, nevertheless, issued for parts of Georgia and Florida. The height of the hurricane season is usually not until August and September. But storms can form at any time. In 2003, a tropical storm, Ana, occurred in April. Weather forecaster AccuWeather.com predicted on Tuesday that 13 or 14 tropical storms or hurricanes would form in the Atlantic this year and six or seven could hit the United States, with the Gulf Coast and Gulf of Mexico oil installations at high risk. The Colorado State University team under forecast pioneer William Gray predicted 17 storms, of which nine would become hurricanes, and London-based Tropical Storm Risk similarly predicted 16.7 storms and 9.2 hurricanes. That would still be a far cry from 2005, when a record 28 storms formed in the Atlantic. Fifteen became hurricanes, including Katrina, which flooded New Orleans and caused $80 billion in damages. Forecasters had collectively warned that 2006 would also be an active season but in the end it was quite normal with 10 storms. No hurricanes hit the United States last year.
