MIAMI — A trio of Caribbean islands are under tropical storm watches Tuesday night as Tropical Storm Bret works its way west for a likely scrape later this week.
St. Lucia joined Barbados and Dominica in issuing the watches as Bret inched closer with 45 mph winds, the National Hurricane Center said in its 8 p.m. bulletin.
Bret spent most of Tuesday battling unfriendly winds and dry air and emerged slightly stronger, despite likely losing its slim chance to strengthen into the season’s first hurricane as it approaches the Windward and Leeward Islands. Forecaster expect the storm to weaken through the weekend and kept it on a path into the Caribbean Islands but well clear of Florida.
In the afternoon, the hurricane center found the storm had strengthened slightly, with maximum sustained winds around 45 mph, and was still heading west at a slower clip, around 18 mph.
On Tuesday, Bret faced some moderate wind shear, or winds blowing in an unfriendly direction, that made it more difficult for the storm to organize and strengthen. The system had also sucked in some dry air, further weakening the storm and lowering its chances of striking land as a hurricane later this week.
Despite the rough conditions, Bret pulled it together enough to slow down and strengthen slightly, although forecasters said they expect the shear to keep the storm from strengthening into a hurricane, as was originally forecast.
Its projected path takes it toward the Lesser Antilles Thursday evening and keeps it on a more southern path, below Haiti and the Dominican Republic, through the weekend.
By Friday, the hurricane center said, most models show Bret dissipating completely.
Forecasters noted that if Bret remains weak, it could also move faster than the official hurricane center forecast predicts, bringing strong winds, rough surf and several inches of rain to nearby islands.
The hurricane center is also watching another potential storm right behind Bret. It gives the tropical disturbance a high chance (70%) of forming into a tropical depression in the next two days, but early predictions from storm models show its path curving north into the open Atlantic just ahead of the Leeward Islands.
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