Tropical Storm Bret formed in the central Atlantic Ocean on June 19, becoming the second named storm of the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season.
As of 8 a.m. Wednesday, Bret continues to maintain its tropical storm status, with maximum sustained winds of still 60 mph. It is also still moving toward the west at 16 mph.
While it could strengthen a little more over the next few days, Bret is expected to remain a tropical storm as it approaches Lesser Antilles early Thursday. Any additional strengthening will be unlikely once it reaches the Caribbean Sea later this week.
Even though Bret is no longer forecast to become a hurricane, it still looks to impact Lesser Antilles with heavy rainfall, flooding, powerful winds and dangerous storm surge.
A Tropical Storm Watch has been issued for Barbados, Dominica, Martinique and St. Lucia.
More watches and warnings will likely be issued for these islands and some of the other islands in Lesser Antilles on Wednesday.
Interaction with land will likely weaken it before it heads farther west into the Caribbean Sea this weekend. Beyond that, Bret’s track becomes more uncertain, so pinpointing what islands and other land areas it will affect remains questionable.
Regardless, anyone living or vacationing in Lesser Antilles should pay close attention to the latest updates on Bret and have a plan in place.
Along with Tropical Storm Bret, there is another area being monitored for development in the eastern Atlantic.
Check here for a look at the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season so far.
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