Hurricane Beryl grew into a Category 3 major hurricane Sunday morning as it took aim at the Caribbean, according to the National Hurricane Center.
As of 8 a.m., the hurricane was located about 420 miles east-southeast of Barbados with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph moving west at 21 mph. Hurricane-force winds extend out 15 miles and tropical-storm-force winds extend out 80 miles.
“Continued rapid strengthening is forecast over the next day or so, and Beryl is expected to become an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane before it reaches the Windward Islands,” said NHC senior hurricane specialist John Cangialosi.
Hurricane warnings are in place for Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands, Grenada and the island of Tobago. A tropical storm warning remains in effect for Martinique and a tropical storm watch is in place for Dominica.
“A continued quick westward to west-northwestward motion is expected during the next few days,” Cangialosi said. “On the forecast track, the center of Beryl is expected to move across the Windward Islands early on Monday and across the southeastern Caribbean Sea Monday night and Tuesday.”
The intensity is forecast to grow to Category 4 with 130 mph sustained winds and 160 mph gusts before it passes by the Caribbean’s Lesser Antilles with the danger of devastating wind damage.
Hurricane #Beryl continues to quickly strengthen this Sunday morning. The storm is now a very dangerous category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph. Life-threatening winds and storm surge are expected in portions of the Windward Islands by early Monday. Latest at… pic.twitter.com/ELcAT3zaqd
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) June 30, 2024
Storm surge is forecast to be as much as 6 to 9 feet above normal levels along with large and destructive waves while 3 to 6 inches of rain are forecast to fall across Barbados and the Windward Islands into Monday that could cause flash flooding.
Its five-day forecast keeps the storm south of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola but close to Jamaica still as a major hurricane on Wednesday before heading farther west toward the Yucatan peninsula by Friday as a Category 2 hurricane.
“Once Beryl enters the Caribbean, increasing shear will likely cause the hurricane to level off in intensity, then weaken through about midweek,” said NHC senior hurricane specialist Eric Blake in the storm discussion.
#Beryl is now a major, Category 3 #hurricane with max winds of 115 mph – the 3rd earliest Atlantic major hurricane on record, trailing Alma (6/8/1966) and Audrey (6/27/1957). pic.twitter.com/RYXqSGomta
— Philip Klotzbach (@philklotzbach) June 30, 2024
Meteorologist Philip Klotzbach with Colorado State University said Beryl’s quick growth into Category 3 major hurricane is the third earliest on record for the Atlantic behind 1966’s Hurricane Alma and 1957’s Hurricane Audrey.
It’s also the first June major hurricane on record east of the Lesser Antilles, he said, having already claimed the record for farthest east a hurricane has formed in June besting one from 1933.
The earliest Category 4 hurricane on record is Hurricane Dennis that grew to that intensity on July 8, 2005.
The NHC is also tracking two more systems with a chance to develop into the season’s next tropical depression or storm.
Trailing Hurricane Beryl farther east is an area of low pressure in the Atlantic several hundred miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.
“Environmental conditions appear conducive for additional development of this system, and a tropical depression is likely to form by the middle part of this week while it moves generally westward at 15 to 20 mph across the eastern and central tropical Atlantic,” forecasters said.
The NHC gave is a 40% chance to develop in the next two days and 70% in the next seven.
The other system is in the southwest Gulf of Mexico, an area of low pressure over the southern Bay of Campeche with disorganized showers and thunderstorms.
“Environmental conditions appear conducive for further development, and a short-lived tropical depression could form before the system moves inland over Mexico on Monday morning,” forecasters said.
Whether it forms or not, the system will drop heavy rainfall across portions of Central America and Mexico through early next week
An Air Force reconnaissance aircraft is set to investigate the system later Sunday.
The NHC gave it a 50% chance to develop in the next two days.
The next two names for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1-Nov. 30, are Chris and Debby.
The first named story of the season, Tropical Storm Alberto, formed on June 19 after a slow start to the season. The height of hurricane season, though, runs from mid-August into October.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast an above average year in the Atlantic with 17 to 25 named storms, of which eight to 13 are expected to become hurricanes, and four to seven of those be major hurricanes.
