Hurricane Beryl forms, forecast to become Category 3 on way to Caribbean

ORLANDO, Fla. — Hurricane Beryl became the first hurricane of the season Saturday as it steamed toward the Caribbean with the National Hurricane Season predicting it will grow into a major hurricane.

As of 5 p.m., the center of Beryl was located 720 miles east-southeast of the Barbados with sustained winds of 75 mph moving west at 22 mph. Hurricane-force winds extend out 10 miles and tropical-storm-force winds extend out 60 miles.

The system formed Friday as a tropical depression but gained named status late Friday and began intensifying throughout Saturday.

“The storm has been on a steady strengthening trend since it formed yesterday, and now that its structure is more symmetric and compact, it likely will have an opportunity to rapidly intensify given the low wind-shear conditions,” said NHC senior hurricane specialist John Cangialosi. “The new NHC intensity forecast explicitly calls for rapid strengthening and shows Beryl becoming a major hurricane before moving across the Windward Islands.”

A hurricane warning is in place for Barbados with hurricane watches issued for St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada and tropical storm watches in effect for Martinique, Dominica and the island of Tobago.

Storm surge is expected to raise water levels from 5 to 7 feet with large and destructive waves. Rainfall is expected to be from 3 to 6 inches across the Barbados and Windward Islands on Sunday night and 1 to 4 inches to the north over portions of southeastern Puerto Rico on Monday night into Tuesday and 2 to 6 inches over southern Hispaniola on Tuesday into Wednesday.

The forecast expects the storm’s intensity to grow to a Category 3 hurricane early Monday as it moves into the Caribbean with 115 mph sustained winds and 140 mph gusts.

It’s forecast to stay a major hurricane as it ventures through the open water south of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola intensifying further to 120 mph sustained winds and 150 mph gusts, but then drop back down to Category 2 as its center approaches Jamaica on Wednesday.

Meteorologist Philip Klotzbach with Colorado State University said the formation of a hurricane this far east in the Atlantic in June broke a record set in 1933.

He said only two hurricanes on record since 1851 have been within 100 miles of Barbados prior to August, hurricanes Emily in 2005 and Elsa in 2021.

...continued

swipe to next page