Hurricane Beryl Rapidly Intensifies into A Major Storm – Repeating Islands

Forbes reports that “the Atlantic’s first hurricane of the 2024 season intensified to a Category 3 storm Sunday morning as it moved closer to Barbados and the Windward Islands, setting up Hurricane Beryl to possibly become the strongest storm ever this early in the Atlantic hurricane season.”

KEY FACTS

• The National Hurricane Center upgraded Beryl to a Category 3 on Sunday, with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph—making it the first major hurricane of the season—and it is expected to become a Category 4 late Sunday or early Monday with winds of 130 mph.
• If it becomes a Category 4, it would be the earliest storm to ever reach that designation in the Atlantic, Fox Weather reported.
• Beryl is expected to bring “devastating damage” through wind and a storm surge when it passes the Windward Islands, bringing rising water levels between 6 and 9 feet above normal tides and threatening coastal areas with intense flooding from “large and destructive waves.”
• The storm is expected to weaken as it passes, or potentially makes landfall, in Jamaica by Wednesday and, by the end of the week, reaches the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico or Central America, though forecasters say it will maintain hurricane status through at least the next five days.
• Hurricane warnings are in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines , Grenada and Tobago. [. . .]

SURPRISING FACT

A hurricane this powerful in the Atlantic Ocean is unprecedented so early in the season. Beryl is the first major hurricane to form east of the Lesser Antilles on record, according to Colorado State University hurricane expert Philip Klotzbach.

For full article, see https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2024/06/30/hurricane-beryl-rapidly-intensifies-into-a-major-storm-heres-the-latest-forecast/