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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical Storm Cindy has formed behind Tropical Storm Bret, in the first case of two storms in the tropical Atlantic in June since record keeping began in 1851, forecasters said Friday.

The historic event signals an early and aggressive start to the Atlantic hurricane season that began on June 1 and that usually peaks from mid-August to mid-October. Some forecasters blamed unusually high sea temperatures for the rare development.

“The Atlantic is awfully warm this year,” said Kerry Emanuel, a meteorologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, adding that it’s partly a result of global warming, natural variability and the ocean’s recovering from sulfate aerosols pollution that cooled it decades ago.

Studies show that a warmer world is producing wetter and more intense hurricanes, with scientists still trying to figure out if climate change alters how many storms brew. Because of more early and pre-season storms, the National Hurricane Center has started issuing advisories earlier in the year, with experts recently discussing the idea of declaring the start of the hurricane season earlier.