Tropical Storm Beryl was officially renamed Hurricane Beryl on Saturday afternoon. This is unusual for a storm this early in the season, as it has strengthened since forming late Friday night and forecasters have warned it could intensify quickly.
Hurricane Beryl, the first hurricane of the 2024 season, is expected to continue moving westward and bring “life-threatening strong winds and storm surge” to the Windward Islands southeast of Puerto Rico and north of Venezuela, the National Hurricane Center said Saturday.
Forecasters said winds could be up to 30 percent stronger in higher parts of the islands.
A hurricane warning was issued for Barbados and several Caribbean islands, including Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada, were under a hurricane watch, while Martinique, Dominica and Tobago were under a tropical storm watch.
A Hurricane Warning means that hurricane conditions are expected in the specified area within 36 hours and all storm preparations should be completed, including evacuation if directed by local authorities. A Hurricane Watch indicates that hurricane conditions are possible within 48 hours and residents should prepare for action.
Forecasters expected Beryl to hit St. Vincent and the Grenadines on Monday, with damaging winds expected to reach the capital, Kingstown, at 8 a.m. local time.
Some computer weather models suggest the storm could develop into a major hurricane, Category 3 or higher.
Only three other storms have reached Category 3 status in the North Atlantic at this time of year: Alma in 1966, Audrey in 1957 and an unnamed storm in 1916, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration records.
All made landfall along the U.S. coast in the Gulf of Mexico: Alma near St. Marks, Florida, Audrey near Port Arthur, Texas, and the 1916 storm near Mobile, Alabama.
The storm strengthened into Tropical Storm Beryl late Friday as sustained winds reached 39 mph. If it reaches 74 mph, the storm will become a hurricane.
National Hurricane Center forecaster John Cangialosi noted in an advisory Friday that it is unusual for a named storm to form this eastern part of the Atlantic in June.
“There have only been a few storms in history that have developed in the central or eastern tropical Atlantic at this time of year,” he wrote.
Here are some important things to know about the storm:
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Forecasters said swells generated by Beryl could reach the Windward and southern Leeward Islands by late Sunday, causing life-threatening rough seas and low tides.
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The storm is expected to move across the eastern Caribbean islands as early as Sunday night, then across the central Caribbean through mid-week.
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Between 3 and 6 inches of rain, hurricane-force winds and dangerous storm surges are possible for the eastern Caribbean islands, including Barbados, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, from Sunday into Monday.
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There is considerable forecast uncertainty regarding the storm's path, especially after the 3rd.
This upcoming hurricane season is expected to be a busy one.
Forecasters are warning that the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season could be much more active than usual.
In late May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted between 17 and 25 named storms would form this year. This is an “above normal” figure and is in line with more than a dozen predictions made earlier this year by experts from universities, the private sector and government agencies.
On average, hurricane season produces 14 named storms.
What made the seasonal hurricane forecast especially grim was that forecasters looking ahead to the start of the season were predicting a combination of conditions not present in records going back to the mid-1800s: record-warm Atlantic waters and the potential for the formation of a weather pattern known as La Niña.
The La Niña phenomenon occurs in the Pacific Ocean due to changes in ocean temperatures, which affect weather patterns across the globe.
When it's strong, it brings calm conditions to the Atlantic Ocean, which allows storms to develop more easily and strengthen unhindered by wind patterns that don't prevent storms from organizing.
John Yoonand John Keeffe Contributed report.