Tropical Storm Bret strengthens, possibly for the last time, as it nears the Caribbean
On Wednesday, Tropical Storm Bret was inside of a small window where it can strengthen ahead of its trek across the eastern Caribbean, but forecasters expect the storm to stay under hurricane strength.
By Sunday, the National Hurricane Center called for the storm to dissipate into a tropical depression south of Jamaica, the end of a path that steers well south of most islands.
As of 8 p.m. Wednesday, Tropical Storm Bret held at 65 miles per hour maximum sustained winds and was still trekking west at about 15 mph. It was about 330 miles east of Barbados.
Several islands in the Lesser Antilles were under tropical storm watches, and St. Lucia and Martinique were under tropical storm warnings. Heavy rains and strong winds are expected Thursday and Friday as Bret crosses the island chain.
But by Thursday or Friday, Bret’s window for strengthening will likely snap shut as wind shear — unfriendly winds that tear storms apart — picks up. By the weekend, that shear was expected to dissolve the system back to a tropical depression.
The hurricane center said Bret is officially expected to break down completely by Saturday.
Forecasters are also watching a second potential system that’s right behind Bret. They gave this tropical wave a 80% chance of developing into a tropical depression in the next two days, an increase of 10 percentage points from Tuesday.
Early storm models show this system, if it develops, could stay on a northern path that keeps it in the open Atlantic and away from inhabited land. The next storm name on the list is Cindy.
