

A loop of true color satellite imagery of the Atlantic Basin from this morning showing Bret over the eastern Caribbean Sea and Cindy east of the Lesser Antilles. Source: University of Wisconsin RealEarth
The two storms are easy to pick out on satellite pictures. Bret is the one over the Caribbean Sea. It's heading west and will continue to the west. Waters are warmer than average down there, but strong westerly winds aloft are causing shear that is ripping the storm apart. The shear will only get worse as Bret tracks westward. So, Bret is likely to fall apart, which is in the National Hurricane Center's (NHC) forecast.

The 8 a.m. EDT Advisory from NHC indicates that Bret will weaken while moving across the Caribbean Sea and dissipate by Sunday.
Bret's remnants should reach Central America by Monday. There is a good chance that it finds favorable conditions in the East Pacific next week and redevelops there.
Cindy will take a different track, more northward, and will pass north of the Caribbean islands.

The 5 a.m. EDT advisory from NHC on Cindy indicates a northwestward forecast track that will take it north of the Lesser Antilles.
A forecast track like this looks concerning for eventual impacts in South Carolina. However, I think the atmosphere has other plans for Cindy. It is in an area where conditions are moderately favorable for strengthening now. This changes by Sunday night when it will encounter upper-level westerly winds that will pummel Cindy in the same way that we will see with Bret. The wind shear will keep Cindy from gaining much strength, and the NHC forecast is for Cindy to get ripped apart by Wednesday.
There is a chance that Cindy will be more resilient than expected and survives the gauntlet of shear early next week. If so, it might regain strength over the western Atlantic later next week. The most likely path for the storm is close to Bermuda, well east of us, and it's unlikely that we would see any more than coastal marine and beach impacts to South Carolina if Cindy is able to take the rounds of punches like Rocky Balboa.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic, not much is happening. A tropical wave is over the western Caribbean Sea along 80° west longitude, but there is little thunderstorm activity associated with it, and there is no sign of development. A somewhat more interesting tropical wave is south of Cabo Verde near 25° west. You can see a general turning motion of the clouds in this area on the satellite view above. On the other hand, it's far to the south, centered only at about 7° north latitude. Aside from being so far south, there is a lot of dry and dusty Saharan air to its north, so if it were to push northward, it would encounter this dry air that would kill all the thunderstorms around it.
It would be anomalous for a tropical cyclone to develop this far to the south. The farthest south we have ever seen one form in the Atlantic is at 7° north (Victor in 2021).
It's rare to see storms form south of 10° north, not just in the Atlantic but all around the world's tropics. The same applies to the Southern Hemisphere; tropical cyclones rarely form north of 10°S as well. The reason for this is the lack of Coriolis Force near the equator. The Coriolis Force deflects the motion of objects (or fluids like air) moving on a rotating object (like Earth). The deflection is to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. It's why storms spin, whether tropical, subtropical, or extratropical. The spin is counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere because of the way the Coriolis Force deflects the air's motion.
The Coriolis Force on Earth ranges from zero at the equator to a maximum at each pole. So, areas near the equator have little Coriolis Force, making it hard to get a spin going. This is why we rarely see tropical cyclones form so far to the south in the Atlantic.
Elsewhere around the Atlantic, you'll notice a swirl southeast of Bermuda along a stationary front. This feature is over waters too cool to support a tropical cyclone, and upper-level winds are also hostile. However, it's a reminder that this time of year, we carefully monitor areas of disturbed weather along our coast or in the Gulf of Mexico for sudden spin-ups.
We don't have any imminent threats, but the hurricane season is still young. It's important to have your emergency preparedness house in order for what might happen later in the season. If you need preparation tips, SCEMD is the expert, and you can find hurricane preparedness tips at their hurricane.sc website.
Several locations around the Upstate and Midlands saw flooding this week thanks to the pest of an upper-level low that sat and spun to our west. Downpour after downpour in some locations resulted in over five inches of rain over the week.

Rainfall over the last seven days ending at 8 a.m. EDT Friday across South Carolina from the Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service.
The upper low is lifting out now, which will lead to less active weather for this weekend and a trend to more typical summertime temperatures. Thunderstorms will cluster over the Upstate and Pee Dee regions this afternoon then we'll only see typical summertime isolated afternoon and evening storms this weekend. Otherwise, look for partly sunny skies and highs in the upper 80s and lower 90s.
On Monday, another cold front will move in from the north. It will get seasonably hot again ahead of the front's arrival, and the heat and humidity ahead of the front result in the risk of severe storms. The Storm Prediction Center is already concerned about this situation and has outlined a part of the state for severe storm risk in their Day 4 outlook.

SPC's Day 4 Severe Weather Outlook graphic with South Carolina in focus.
The primary threats look to be damaging wind and hail on Monday, with the timing of the storms mostly during the afternoon and evening.
It looks like this front will slow down while moving through South Carolina, resulting in an active day on Tuesday, at least along the Coastal Plain. There might be a limited flooding risk because of saturated soil over much of the state, but I don't think the rain will be as intense or widespread early next week as we saw this week.
Wednesday through the end of next week look mainly rain-free with typical early summer heat and humidity. Could it finally be the onset of regularly hot and humid days? It's looking that way, but our long-range guidance has fooled me a couple of times already this year on this. I will say that over in the Southern Plains states, the heat has become intense, and it looks as though their heat wave will continue for many days to come. When it turns torrid there, we usually get an occasional taste of their heat.