Image of Tropical Storm Cindy as of Friday morning. Photo courtesy of NOAA
June 23 (UPI) — Tropical Storm Cindy gradually strengthened throughout the day Friday in the Atlantic Ocean but is not a threat to land, forecasters for the National Weather Service said.
The storm was pinpointed about 990 miles east of the Lesser Antilles before dawn on Friday with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. Throughout the day, though, the tropical storm continued to move west-northwest at about 16 mph, and maximum sustained winds Friday evening were at 50 mph.
“This general motion is expected to continue over the next few days,” the NWS said. “On the forecast track, the system is expected to remain well east and northeast of the northern Leeward Islands through early next week.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 60 miles from the storm’s center, NWS said.
AccuWeather meteorologist Alyssa Smithmyer said Cindy is expected to shift to a more north-northwest path over the weekend to sail north of the Lesser Antilles.
“Once it moves well to the north of Puerto Rico and the surrounding islands early next week, it is expected to enter a less favorable environment for further development,” Smithmyer said. “At this time, chances remain low for this feature to be upgraded to hurricane strength.”
Another named storm, Tropical Storm Bret, appears to have found a similar fate as it moved into unfavorable development conditions as it moves across the Atlantic Ocean near lower Central America and upper South America.
Bret was located more than 150 miles west of St. Vincent in the eastern Caribbean at 18 mph. The storm’s sustained winds peaked at 70 mph on Wednesday but now have lost steam over the past two days. As of Friday, the wind speed was down to 60 mph.
“The window is rapidly closing for Bret to strengthen further,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Adam Douty said.
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