Tropical Storm Beryl was strengthening on Saturday while on a fast path westward toward the Caribbean.
The National Hurricane Center said Beryl, the second named storm of 2024 in the Atlantic Ocean, could become 2024′s first hurricane as soon as tonight or Sunday.
Beryl is expected to be approaching the Caribbean by then, and a hurricane watch is now in effect for Barbados.
The hurricane center on Saturday was also tracking two other tropical disturbances, and both of them have chances to become tropical depressions in the next few days. (The next names on the 2024 storm list are Chris and Debby.)
But Beryl is the more immediate concern. As of 7 a.m. CDT Saturday, Tropical Storm Beryl was located about 975 miles east-southeast of Barbados and was tracking quickly to the west at 21 mph.
Beryl’s winds had increased to 60 mph. Category 1 hurricane winds begin at 74 mph.
The hurricane center expects Beryl to become a hurricane tonight or early Sunday, and then continue to get stronger. The hurricane center’s forecast does not so far show Beryl becoming a major hurricane (Category 3), however, some forecast models are suggesting that is a possibility because of a very favorable environment for strengthening in Beryl’s path.
Barbados is the only island under a watch so far. The hurricane center said Beryl is expected to move across the Windward Islands late Sunday night and into Monday.
The official forecast track takes what could be Hurricane Beryl by then south of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and has the center of the storm passing near or right over Jamaica on Wednesday, when the forecast period ends.
The hurricane center cautioned however, that track errors can be large when it comes to the Days 4 and 5 track guidance.
It’s too soon to say if or when Beryl could affect the U.S.
The hurricane center said Beryl could bring a 2- to 4-foot storm surge to Barbados and 3 to 6 inches of rain to the Windward Islands.
Besides Beryl, the hurricane center is also tracking two other disturbances. The one in the Gulf is not expected to affect the U.S.NHC
Some hurricane watchers have said the Atlantic basin activity looks more like August than June, with two other tropical disturbances to monitor as of Saturday.
One of them is expected to move into the southern Gulf of Mexico’s Bay of Campeche, but won’t be a U.S. threat.
That tropical system has a 40 percent chance of becoming a tropical depression in the next two days and is expected to move inland early next week on Mexico’s Gulf Coast.
The second system will also bear watching and is following on the heels of Beryl.
As of Saturday it was several hundred mils southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands off Africa’s west coast. It could become a tropical depression by the middle of next week as it tracks to the west across the central Atlantic on a path similar to Beryl’s.
That system has a 60 percent chance of becoming a depression in the next seven days.
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