Hurricane Beryl Strengthens Into Category 4 Storm as it Nears Caribbean

A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite image shows Hurricane Beryl as of Sunday, June 30, 2024. (NOAA)

Hurricane Beryl strengthened into a Category 4 storm on Sunday, becoming the first hurricane to form during the 2024 season, according to federal forecasters.

Located about east-southeast of Barbados in the Caribbean, Beryl had 130 mph winds, said the National Hurricane Center in a 2 p.m. EST advisory. The storm is expected to hit the windward islands on Monday as a major Category 3 hurricane or higher before it hits part of Jamaica in the coming days.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. A tropical storm warning was in effect for Martinique, and a tropical storm watch was issued for Dominica and Trinidad.

“This is a very serious situation developing for the Windward Islands,” warned the National Hurricane Center in Miami, which said that Beryl was “forecast to bring life-threatening winds and storm surge.”

Beryl is expected to pass just south of Barbados early Monday and then head into the Caribbean Sea as a major hurricane on a path toward Jamaica. It is expected to weaken by midweek but still remain a hurricane as it heads toward Mexico, according to the hurricane center.

Other forecasting models suggest Beryl could instead pass into the Gulf of Mexico between Cuba and Mexico before reaching the mainland United States.

However, other models show that the storm could hit Mexico before its remnants pass into parts of Texas, and more models suggest the storm could pass through southern Mexico or other Central American countries before its remains reach the Pacific Ocean.

As of Sunday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center’s official “cone of uncertainty” shows the storm impacting portions of Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize, while the bulk of the hurricane will hit the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. But after that, it’s not clear.

Phil Klotzbach, an influential hurricane researcher at Colorado State University, wrote on social media that Beryl became the first major hurricane on record to form east of the Lesser Antilles island chain in June.

Beryl is also the third major hurricane to have “occurred in the Caribbean prior to [Aug. 1] on record (since 1851): Dennis and Emily in July of 2005,” he wrote.

St. Lucian Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre wrote on Facebook that emergency officials declared a nationwide shutdown of the small island nation, starting at 8:30 p.m. local time on Sunday.

“We need to be together and support each other as we prepare but hope and pray we are spared,” he said in a message posted on the website.

In Grenada, officials declared a state of emergency that would go into effect starting on 7 p.m. Sunday and remain in effect for a week, the country’s prime minister, Dickon Mitchell, told reporters.

“I want to urge all of us as citizens of Grenada that we use the next six hours to ensure that we prepare for the hurricane. It is not a storm anymore. It is a category three likely to become [a] category four hurricane. The models are indicating that we are likely to have devastating wind damage on Monday when the eye wall of Beryl moves over the Windward Islands,” he said.

In St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the country’s Meteorological Service sent out a flash-flood warning, which will go into effect starting at 6 p.m. on Sunday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, predicts the 2024 hurricane season will likely be above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast calls for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

Beryl is the second named storm of this hurricane season. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto came ashore in northeastern Mexico with heavy rains that resulted in four deaths.

The official Atlantic hurricane season started on June 1 and will end on Nov. 30. Peak activity usually occurs in early September.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.