Two tropical cyclones formed over the Atlantic Ocean and moved toward the Caribbean in June 2023. This marks the first time on record that more than one such storm has developed in the month of June.
NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on NOAA’s DSCOVR satellite captured this view of tropical storms Bret and Cindy lining up over the Atlantic on June 22, 2023. Smoke from wildfires in Canada is also visible in this image, which was taken from about 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) away from Earth.
On the day the image was acquired, Bret neared the central islands of the Lesser Antilles on a westward path, while Cindy gathered strength in the tropical Atlantic. The following day, on June 23, Bret had passed over the islands and continued moving west, with maximum sustained winds near 95 kilometers (60 miles) per hour. Cindy progressed on a west-northwest path with sustained winds approaching 85 kilometers (50 miles) per hour.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Bret was forecast to weaken and dissipate over the central Caribbean Sea. Cindy was expected to continue west-northwest and strengthen for about a day before weakening.
References & Resources
- NWS National Hurricane Center (2023, June 23) Atlantic 7-Day Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook. Accessed June 23, 2023.
- Yale Climate Connections (2023, June 22) Tropical Storm Bret nears the Lesser Antilles as a new system gains strength. Accessed June 23, 2023.
NASA Earth Observatory images by Lauren Dauphin, using data from DSCOVR EPIC .
