CNN
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Tropical Storm Bret could reach the Lesser Antilles islands in the Caribbean Sea by late Thursday.
But the storm is not expected to become a rare June hurricane as had been previously thought, the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday.
Bret, centered in the Atlantic hundreds of miles east of the Lesser Antilles, strengthened slightly Tuesday evening, with maximum sustained winds at 50 mph, up from 45 mph hours earlier, the hurricane center said Tuesday night.
“Some additional strengthening is forecast during the next day or so,” the hurricane center said. Tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 45 miles from the center.
Bret is expected to impact the Lesser Antilles as a tropical storm – counter to previous forecasts predicting it could be at hurricane strength – with its center expected to move through the island group around Thursday afternoon and night, the hurricane center said.
Tropical storm watches are in effect for Barbados, Dominica, Martinique and St. Lucia.