Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Danny, no longer forecast to become a hurricane, spurred a tropical storm watch along the North Carolina coast and may brush Long Island and New England as it heads north, U.S. forecasters said.

Danny’s maximum sustained winds dropped to 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour as of about 5 p.m. Miami time, down from 60 mph earlier in the day. Danny developed yesterday as the fourth tropical storm of the season, the National Hurricane Center said on its Web site.

The system was east of the Bahamas and 545 miles south- southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, where the watch is in effect. A tropical storm watch means a system may affect the area within 36 hours.

“Slow strengthening is possible during the next couple of days,” the center said. “The new intensity forecast calls for Danny to not reach hurricane strength.”

The center’s five-day forecast shows Danny on a northward track that takes it near the Carolinas late tomorrow and New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts on the day after. Like Hurricane Bill last week, it is forecast to head for Canada’s Maritime provinces.

Tropical storm-force winds of at least 39 mph extend up to 205 miles from the eye, and Danny is forecast to turn toward the north and accelerate tomorrow.

What will ultimately influence Danny’s track is a low- pressure system over the southeastern U.S., said Jim Rouiller, a senior energy meteorologist at Planalytics Inc. in Wayne, Pennsylvania. If the low-pressure system remains strong, Danny will be drawn closer to the U.S. coast.

If the low weakens, Danny is likely to move farther out into the Atlantic, Rouiller said by telephone.

To contact the reporters on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net; Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 27, 2009 17:02 EDT