Forecasts indicate a hurricane threat to eastern Caribbean and Dominican Republic and Haiti towards the weekend, as tropical storm Bret initiated in the central Atlantic Ocean on Monday.
Bret initially had maximum winds of 40 mph (65 kph), moving towards the Atlantic at 18mph (30kph). Predicted forecasts that over the next two days it is expected to intensify into a category 1 hurricane strength of 74 mph (120 kph), as it nears the Lesser Antilles. The storm is not expected to reach a Category 2 storm, due to wind shear.
Towards the weekend Bret is expected to cross the Lesser Antilles with heavy rainfall, flooding and dangerous waves and storm surge, the center informed. A warning issued that its forecast “remains a low confidence prediction” by the center, as it is expected to gradually weaken while still in the eastern Caribbean region.
It was informed that residence in the Lesser Antilles, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, should have their hurricane plans in order and keeping a close attention on updates to the forecast for this system.
Hurricane Bret, could possibly divert north or continue in its current path into the Caribbean, threatening Haiti, Dominican Republic and other islands. The center informed that the storm’s forecast path has a larger than usual uncertainty.
A meteorologist at Colorado state university, Philip Klotzbach, informs, it has been almost a century, that a storm has converted into a hurricane in June in the tropical Atlantic. It was in Trinidad in 1933, such storm was last recorded, he informed.
In 2023, the first named storm, tropical storm Arlene, came to being earlier this month. Lasting for two days with no danger of landfall. Previously, in January a subtropical storm formed in the Atlantic basin.
A forecast has been formulated of 12 to 17 named storms, by the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration for this hurricane season. It is estimated between five and nine of those storms has the potential of becoming hurricanes, including up to four, category 3 or higher major hurricanes.
