The remnants of Bret dissipated off the coast of Colombia at 5 p.m. Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Meanwhile, the center of Tropical Storm Cindy was moving quickly toward the northwest at 21 mph (33 km/h) and was expected to continue, with a gradual slowdown.
Satellite images, surface observations, and other data indicated that Bret no longer has a well-defined low-level center with the structure of the system more resembling an open wave or trough. The NHC said the system did not meet the criteria needed to be considered a tropical cyclone.
While the remnants of Bret were still producing 35-knot winds in areas of showers and thunderstorms just north of the northeastern portion of Colombia, these winds are expected to decay as the system continues to move quickly westward.
Tropical Storm Cindy's forecast track should pass well to the northeast of the northernmost Leeward Islands.
Maximum sustained winds remain near 50 mph (95 km/h) with higher gusts. Weakening is forecast over the next several days, and Cindy could degenerate into a trough of low pressure by the middle portion of this week.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles (95 km) from the center.
When Cindy formed behind Tropical Storm Bret, it was the first case of two storms in the tropical Atlantic in June since record keeping began in 1851, forecasters said Friday.
The historic event signals an early and aggressive start to the Atlantic hurricane season that began June 1 and usually peaks from mid-August to mid-October. Some forecasters blamed unusually high sea temperatures for the rare development.
“The Atlantic is awfully warm this year,” said Kerry Emanuel, a meteorologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, adding that it’s partly a result of global warming, natural variability and the ocean’s recovering from sulfate aerosols pollution that cooled it decades ago.
Studies show that a warmer world is producing wetter and more intense hurricanes, with scientists still trying to figure out if climate change alters how many storms brew. Because of more early and pre-season storms, the National Hurricane Center has started issuing advisories earlier in the year, with experts recently discussing the idea of declaring the start of the hurricane season earlier.
Emanuel noted that in the entire Atlantic Ocean, not just the tropical Atlantic, it’s not unusual to have storms in June. It has happened 34 times — including this year — since 1851, he said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has forecast 12 to 17 named storms for this year’s hurricane season. It said between five and nine of those storms could become hurricanes, including up to four major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.
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