Beryl Upgraded to Hurricane, Expected to Intensify ‘Quickly’

(Bloomberg) -- Beryl, the second tropical storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, has been upgraded to a hurricane and is “forecast to intensify quickly,” the US National Hurricane Center said. 

Beryl picked up strength Saturday and is moving toward the southeast Caribbean, the NHC said. It’s expected to slam the Windward Islands in the West Indies late Sunday as a major hurricane, according to the forecast. The storm was logging maximum winds of 75-miles-per-hour (121 kph) on Saturday around 4 p.m. in New York.

A hurricane warning is now in effect for the island of Barbados and watches are issued for St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands, and Grenada, the NHC said. A tropical storm watch is in effect for Martinique, Dominica and Tobago. 

Computer models show “a significant chance of rapid intensification,” Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the center, wrote in an earlier forecast. “Atmospheric and oceanic conditions over the western tropical Atlantic and the eastern Caribbean Sea are abnormally favorable for strengthening.” 

Storms typically intensify rapidly when their top wind speeds increase by at least 35 mph in 24 hours. 

The Atlantic Ocean, where Beryl formed between the Caribbean and the Cabo Verde Islands off Africa’s west coast, is typically called the main development region by forecasters and is where some of history’s most destructive storms have formed.

That part of the ocean usually doesn’t become active until late August through September, though, so Beryl’s formation before the end of June is unusual.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in May predicted an above-normal 2024 Atlantic hurricane season that could see 17 to 25 named storms including as many as 13 hurricanes. 

The longer-term forecast calls for the storm to keep heading west, possibly striking Cuba by the end of next week. 

(Updates to add storm watch in 3rd paragraph. An earlier version of the story corrected day of the storm.)

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