By Robert Green

TAMPA, Florida, June 2 (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Barry bore down on Florida on Saturday with high winds and torrential rains, but the downpour was welcomed in a parched state that has been battling stubborn wildfires.

Barry's center was expected to reach Florida's west coast in or near the city of Tampa by early afternoon on Saturday, but the area was already feeling the brunt of the storm during the morning.

Barry was expected to cross Florida and then head up the U.S. east coast as a heavy rainstorm, said Daniel Brown, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. It was not expected to strengthen into a hurricane.

At 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), the storm's center was about 85 miles (135 km) southwest of Tampa and moving north-northeast near 20 mph (32 kph), the National Hurricane Center said. Its maximum sustained winds were near 50 mph (85 kph), and tropical storm force winds extended nearly 90 miles (150 km) from its center.

A tropical storm warning was up for the west coast of Florida, from Bonita Beach northward to Keaton Beach, signaling that tropical storm conditions were possible there within the next 24 hours. Tropical storms have maximum sustained winds ranging from 39 to 73 mph (63-118 kph).

Barry's winds were expected to weaken once it passed out of the Gulf of Mexico and hit land, forecasters said. But it was expected to bring up to 6 inches of rain (15 cm) to parts of Florida, Georgia and North and South Carolina, with up to 10 inches (25 cm) in isolated areas.

That was welcome news in Florida, which reported hundreds of wildfires in May. The citrus industry also said severely dry weather was putting continual stress on the state's orange and grapefruit growing areas.

The hurricane center also said heavy rains were possible in parts of Cuba.

Barry formed on Friday, June 1, the official start of the six-month 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, which forecasters have predicted will be more active than normal.

"I think it's the first time in 39 years that we've had a storm on the first day of the season," Brown said.

The season got off to an early start on May 9 with the formation of Subtropical Storm Andrea off the U.S. coast. But Andrea lacked the warm core and organized thunderstorm activity of tropical systems.

The height of the six-month hurricane season is usually not until August and September.

(Additional reporting by Tom Brown in Miami.)

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