Tropical Storms Bret And Cindy Become First June Pair To Form East Of Lesser Antilles In Same Hurricane Season

Tropical Storms Bret and Cindy were both rare systems to develop in June in the deep tropics, due in part to record warm ocean water for so early in hurricane season.

While neither storm was all that impactful, the combination of Bret and Cindy did make history in a few respects.

Tropical Storm Bret

T​he National Hurricane Center began issuing forecast advisories on this system late in the morning hours of Monday, June 19, as it had enough low-level spin and thunderstorms near it to be designated a tropical cyclone. It became the season's third tropical storm later that afternoon.

F​or a couple of days, Bret bubbled westward toward the Leeward Islands. Bret took a run at hurricane intensity early on Thursday, June 22, before nearly making landfall in Barbados late in the day.

W​inds gusted as high as 69 mph in St. Lucia and 56 mph at Grantley Adams International Airport on the southern end of Barbados east of the island's capital, Bridgetown, as Bret moved through the islands.

M​ost weather stations in Barbados, St. Lucia and Martinique reported from 2 to 3 inches of rain from Bret.

B​ret then succumbed to wind shear and degenerated to a trough of low pressure on June 24 over the southern Caribbean Sea just north of the coast of Colombia.

Tropical Storm Cindy

As Bret was heading into the Windward Islands, a second system followed in its footsteps, at least initially.

T​ropical Depression Four formed on the morning of June 22 almost in the exact same stretch of the Atlantic Ocean that Bret first became a depression just three days earlier.

I​t became Tropical Storm Cindy late that night and eventually curled to the northwest well north of the Leeward Islands.

L​ike Bret, wind shear ripped Cindy into a tropical wave, and the NHC stopped issuing advisories after the night of June 25. However, the following day, the NHC said Cindy could be reborn if wind shear relaxes near Bermuda.

The O​ddities And Notables

It was the first time we had two tropical storms form east of the Lesser Antilles in June. Only about 6% of all storms form in June.

A​ccording to the recently-updated NOAA database, only a handful of all June storms had previously formed east of the Lesser Antilles in records dating to the mid-19th century.

N​ever before had more than one such storm formed in the same hurricane season in June east of the Lesser Antilles, until Bret and Cindy did so.

Two June storms active at once is rare anywhere in the Atlantic Basin. According to Colorado State University tropical scientist Phil Klotzbach, Bret and Cindy marked the first time two storms were active at one time in June since 1968.

I​n the satellite era - since 1966 - June has averaged one storm every 1 to 2 years.

Record ocean warmth provided fuel. One factor that has contributed to the development of Bret and Cindy is ocean warmth. A​ll other factors equal, warmer ocean water can provide more fuel for tropical systems to intensify.

O​ver the strip of the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Lesser Antilles is an area known as the "main development region" (MDR), where many intense hurricanes get their start. Ocean temperatures there have smashed mid-June records. Water temperatures near Cabo Verde and points west into the central tropical Atlantic are generally in the low 80s, which is sufficient heating for tropical development.

WPLG-TV hurricane expert Michael Lowry noted these sea-surface temperatures are more typical of the heart of hurricane season - early September - rather than June. Water temperatures in the proximity of this system are 2 to 5 degrees above average.

That's due in part to lighter than usual trade winds from a weaker than average Bermuda-Azores high, according to Brian McNoldy, tropical scientist at the University of Miami.

T​he last "Bret" was also a rare June "east of the Antilles" storm. If this Bret scenario sounds like déjà vu, you're right.

A​tlantic Basin hurricane and tropical storm names repeat every six years, unless one storm is so deadly and/or destructive that it's retired from future use ​to avoid confusion.

I​n 2017, Tropical Storm Bret also formed just east of the Lesser Antilles in June, one of those rare previous handful of storms to do that prior to 2023's Bret and Cindy.

T​he 2017 Bret also fizzled quickly in the Caribbean Sea after soaking Trinidad and Tobago.

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