Beryl, the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, intensified to an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph Sunday morning, as it made its way toward the Windward Islands.
Beryl is now the earliest Category 4 hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean and the only Category 4 storm ever recorded in the month of June.
Tropical storm-force winds are expected to reach the Windward Islands late Sunday or early Monday.
The early timing of the season’s first hurricane is unusual, given the average date for the first hurricane is August 11.
As of 5 p.m. ET, Beryl was about 250 miles east southeast of Barbados, heading west.
“A life-threatening storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 6 to 9 feet above normal tide levels in areas of onshore flow near where the eye makes landfall in the hurricane warning area,” the National Hurricane Center said, adding that the surge could bring large and destructive waves near the coast.
The hurricane is strengthening quickly, increasing 55 mph in the 24 hours before Sunday morning.
“We’re forecasting rapid intensification and expecting Beryl to become a major hurricane before it reaches places like Barbados and the Windward islands and continue to be a powerful hurricane as it moves into the eastern and central Caribbean as we go into the early portions of next week,” hurricane center Director Mike Brennan told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield on Saturday.
The hurricane center defines rapid intensification as an increase in maximum sustained wind speed of 35 mph or more in a 24-hour period.