(WKBW-TV) BUFFALO, NY — Beryl, the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season intensified into what the National Hurricane Center is calling an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph.
It's making its way toward the Windward Islands, which includes Barbados, where it is expected to have catastrophic effects.
Beryl is now the earliest Category 4 hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean, and the only Category 4 storm in tropical weather records for the month of June. It is also now the Atlantic Ocean's third-earliest major hurricane, according to records kept by NOAA.
It is very unusual to see any sort of hurricane this early in the season, given that the average date of the season's first hurricane is at or around August 11th!
The storm is expected to sweep across places like Barbados and the Windward Islands and then continue to be a powerful hurricane as it moves into the eastern and central Caribbean going into the first part of this week.
Hurricane Warnings are in effect for Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadine Islands, Grenada, and Tobago, where residents are rushing to complete preparations for a major impact that would include very heavy rainfall, destructive hurricane-force winds, and dangerous storm surge and waves.
We will continue to follow Beryl throughout the week, so stay tuned for further updates, as we monitor its progress.
