Hurricane Beryl was approaching the Windward Islands in the southeastern Caribbean as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm, the National Hurricane Center said Sunday night. Forecasters warned that the first major hurricane of the Atlantic season would bring life-threatening winds and storm surges to the Windward Islands early Monday.
At 8 p.m. ET, Beryl was located about 200 miles east-southeast of Barbados with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (210 km/h) and was moving west at 19 mph (30 km/h).
Hurricane warnings were in effect in Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Tobago. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Martinique, while tropical storm warnings are in effect in Dominica and Trinidad.
“This is a very serious situation developing for the Windward Islands,” the Miami-based National Hurricane Center warned. The center said Beryl was “expected to bring life-threatening winds and storm surges… as an extremely dangerous hurricane.”
Beryl is on course to move across the Windward Islands early Monday as an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 hurricane before moving through the southeastern Caribbean Monday night and Tuesday.
According to the National Hurricane Center, two hurricane hunters were heading to the storm to gather more details about its intensity.
NOAA
Historic hurricane
It took Beryl just 42 hours to recover from a tropical depression to a major hurricane — a feat accomplished only six times before in the history of Atlantic hurricanes, and with September 1 as the earliest date, according to hurricane expert Sam Lillo.
According to hurricane specialist and storm surge expert Michael Lowry, Beryl is only the third Category 3 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic in June, after Audrey in 1957 and Alma in 1966.
“Beryl is an extremely dangerous and rare hurricane for this time of year in this area,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “Unusual is an understatement. Beryl is already a historic hurricane and has not yet struck.”
Hurricane Ivan was the last major hurricane to hit the southeastern Caribbean in 2004. The hurricane caused catastrophic damage to Grenada as a Category 3 storm.
“So this is a serious threat, a very serious threat,” Lowry said of Beryl.
Beryl is the second named storm in what is expected to be a busy hurricane season, running from June 1 to November 30 in the Atlantic Ocean. Tropical storm Alberto last week brought severe flooding in parts of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. It was responsible for at least four deaths in the Mexican states of Nuevo Leon and Veracruz.
According to CBS News weatherman David Parkinson, Beryl is the easternmost hurricane to form in June. It is one of only two hurricanes to form east of the Caribbean. The last hurricane was in 1933. Parkinson expects Beryl to remain south of Jamaica and predicts it will take at least eight days for the hurricane to reach the United States.
According to Brian McNoldy, a tropical meteorology researcher at the University of Miami, Beryl is being fed by warm water, with the heat content of the deep Atlantic Ocean at its highest ever recorded for this time of year.
Forecasters warned of a life-threatening storm surge of up to 3 meters in the areas where Beryl will make landfall, with up to 15 centimeters of rain expected for Barbados and nearby islands.
Ready for the storm
CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images
Long lines formed at gas stations and supermarkets in Barbados and other islands as people rushed to prepare for a storm that quickly intensified, from a tropical storm with 35 mph winds on Friday to a Category 1 hurricane on Saturday.
“We must be ready,” Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley said in a public speech on Friday evening. “You and I know that when these things happen, it's better to plan for the worst and pray for the best.”
She noted that thousands of people were in Barbados on Saturday for the Twenty20 World Cup Cricket Finalwith India beating South Africa in the capital Bridgetown on Saturday. It is considered cricket's biggest event.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves of St. Vincent and the Grenadines said in a public address on Saturday that shelters will open on Sunday evening, as he urged people to prepare. He ordered officials to refuel government vehicles and asked supermarkets and gas stations to stay open later before the storm.
“Please take this very seriously and prepare yourselves,” Gonsalves said. “This is a terrible hurricane.”
Caribbean leaders were preparing not only for Beryl, but also for a series of post-hurricane thunderstorms that have a 70% chance of becoming a tropical depression.
“Be on your guard,” Mottley said.
According to the National Hurricane Center, the first hurricane of the season usually forms in early to mid-August, making Beryl unusual in that it has reached hurricane strength. In a report Published last month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecast an “above average” hurricane season with 17 to 25 storms, 8 to 13 hurricanes and 4 to 7 major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher. An average Atlantic hurricane season produces fourteen named storms, seven of which are hurricanes and three major hurricanes.
A tropical storm is a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of 39 to 73 mph, while a hurricane has been defined as a tropical cyclone with maximum sustained winds of over 120 km/h.
