As Hurricane Beryl approaches the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday afternoon, it is expected to intensify swiftly into a powerful Category 3 hurricane. This makes Hurricane Beryl the first Atlantic hurricane of 2024.
As of Saturday afternoon, Beryl had strengthened from a tropical storm and had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The hurricane is moving west at a speed of 22 mph and is predicted by the NHC to strengthen into a “dangerous major hurricane” before making landfall late Sunday or early Monday near the Windward Islands, a collection of Caribbean islands that includes Martinique, Grenada, and Dominica.
Beryl is expected by NHC forecasts to bring strong winds, rain, and a potentially deadly storm surge. Barbados is currently under a hurricane warning, and hurricane watches are in place for St. Lucia, Granada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands.
Also Read-
A Category 3 major hurricane, with sustained winds of at least 111 mph, is predicted to strengthen the hurricane by Monday night, according to AccuWeather meteorologists. The hurricane is expected to move west of the Windward Islands, into the Caribbean Sea, and eventually toward the Gulf of Mexico.
According to current predictions, the hurricane will cross Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic before heading toward the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico.
According to The Weather Channel, one element assisting the storm’s development is below-average wind shear for this time of year, which lessens the disruptive winds usually present in the early summer that can impede hurricane development.