Let ω_y (n) be the number of distinct prime divisors of n not exceeding y. If y_n is an increasing function of n such that log y_n = o(log n), we study the distribution of ω_{y_n} (n) and establish an analog of the Erdős-Kac theorem for this function. En route, we also prove a variant central limit theorem for random variables, which are not necessarily independent, but are well approximated by independent random variables.