Topline
The Atlantic’s first hurricane of the 2024 season rapidly intensified to a Category 4 storm Sunday morning as it moved closer to Barbados and the Windward Islands, making Hurricane Beryl the strongest storm ever this early in the Atlantic hurricane season.
Key Facts
The National Hurricane Center upgraded Beryl to a Category 4 on Sunday, with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph—just hours after it became a Category 3, and less than 24 hours after it was still a tropical storm.
It is the earliest in the season a storm has ever hit Category 4 strength.
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.
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What To Watch For
The storm’s long-term track, including any potential effects on the U.S., remain unclear at this point.
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.
Big Number
42. That’s how many days ahead of schedule this hurricane season was for the first hurricane formingThe average date for the first hurricane is Aug. 11, according to CNN. Beryl reached hurricane status Saturday.
Key Background
Beryl is the second named tropical storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season (Tropical Storm Alberto made landfall in Mexico last week), but the first hurricane. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration earlier this year predicted that there would be between 17 and 25 named tropical storms before the end of the hurricane season on November 30, and AccuWeather forecasters predicted a “record-setting pace” for the 2024 season with up to 25 named storms, eight to 12 hurricanes and four to seven major hurricanes. If forecasts are correct, it would be well above the average of just over 14 named storms seen over the last 30 years. A developing La Nina pattern, which typically brings lower-than-normal wind shear to the Atlantic basin, and historically high sea surface temperatures, are among the factors forecasters say could make 2024 one of the most active seasons in recorded history. Stronger hurricanes are becoming more common as the earth warms, climate change scientists have warned.
