A hurricane watch was issued for part of North Carolina's coast early Wednesday as Tropical Storm Arthur moves north in the Atlantic Ocean east of  Florida’s east coast.

Arthur is the first named Atlantic storm of 2014.

The Tropical Storm Watch for the Central Florida coast from Sebastian Inlet to Flagler Beach has expired.

According to Bay News 9 meteorologist Brian McClure, Arthur could become a hurricane at any point, and likely will sometime tonight or tomorrow morning.

"Arthur is behaving as planned," said McClure. "It continues to organize and intensify as it slowly moves northward, staying east of Florida."

A hurricane watch in North Carolina covers an area from Little River Inlet to Surf City. A warning in North Carolina covers and area from Surf City to Duck, including Pamlico Sound and Eastern Albemarle Sound.

There is also a tropical storm warning southward to South Santee River, South Carolina and on the north end up to Cape Charles, Virginia.

Arthur was centered about 90 miles east of Cape Canaveral, Florida, early Wednesday and was moving north near 6 mph.

Off Florida's Space Coast beaches - the closest to Arthur - the sky was cloudy and winds were fairly normal Tuesday, said Eisen Witcher, assistant chief of Brevard County Ocean Rescue.

At 11 p.m., the center of Tropical Storm Arthur was located near latitude 30.6 north, longitude 79.1 west. Arthur is moving toward the north near 8 mph and this motion is expected to continue tonight. A turn toward the north-northeast is expected tonight, followed by a turn toward the northeast with an increase in forward speed on Thursday.

On the forecast track, the center of Arthur is expected to move east of the east-central coast of Florida today, pass east of northeastern Florida tonight, move parallel to the coast of South Carolina on Thursday and approach the Hurricane Watch area Thursday night.

Maximum sustained winds remain near 70 mph with higher gusts. Some strengthening is forecast during the next 48 hours and Arthur is expected to become a hurricane by Thursday. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 80 miles from the center.

Hurricane conditions are possible within the Hurricane Watch area by Thursday night, with tropical storm conditions possible by late Thursday.

Arthur is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 1 to 2 inches across the eastern Florida Peninsula and over coastal areas of North Carolina through Thursday. Isolated maximum amounts of 4 inches are possible. Rains associated with Arthur are expected to diminish across the northwestern Bahamas today.