Tropical Storm Brett Strengthens on Its Way to the Caribbean

On Tuesday, tropical storm Brett, the second to form this season in the Atlantic basin, strengthens as it moves west and may reach hurricane status within a couple of days when near the Lesser Antilles.

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The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has not yet issued alerts, but it did recommend that the inhabitants of those islands in the Caribbean be vigilant in the face of the advance of storm Brett, which is followed on its way from West Africa by a system with 70 percent chance of becoming a cyclone in 48 hours.

Brett, which reached tropical storm status on Monday, is about 1,130 miles east of the southern Windward Islands and moving at 17 miles per hour in a westerly direction.

On the track forecast by NHC meteorologists, Brett will approach the Lesser Antilles later this week, but before that it will become the first hurricane of 2023.

Tropical storm winds extend up to 45 miles from the center. In addition to Brett, the NHC reported a tropical wave located several hundred miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.

"Environmental conditions appear conducive for further development of this system and a tropical depression will likely form over the next several days as the system slowly moves west across the tropical Atlantic.

The 48-hour formation probability is high for both a 48-hour (70 percent) and 7-day (80 percent) period.