Tropical Storm Henri formed rapidly Tuesday about 1,700 southeast of Miami. It was expected to die quickly as well.

At 5 p.m., the National Hurricane Center said a disturbance forecasters had been tracking for several days had rapidly intensified into Henri (pronounced anh-ree).

The storm, packing 40 mph winds, just over tropical storm strength, was moving to the west northwest at 18 mph. It was about 600 miles east of the Northern Leeward Islands and its gale force winds were expected to stay well to the north.

``It's going to run into a front coming down from the north and that ought to take care of it,'' said Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the center in Miami. ``It's certainly not a threat to the United States and we don't even see it affecting the islands.''

Henri's formation was somewhat surprising as it generated from a ragged system forecasters had given less than a 30 percent chance of developing into a storm as it moved through an area of strong wind shear. Those same atmospheric conditions were expected to weaken Henri into a depression by Wednesday and dissipate it by Thursday.