On Thursday afternoon, our second named storm of the 2018 season formed in the central Atlantic about 1300 miles east of the Lesser Antilles. Max sustained winds were at 50 mph as of 5pm EDT. Tropical Storm Beryl is incredibly small storm, with tropical storm force winds only extending outward about 35 miles from the center.

Beryl will head west over the next few days and likely take advantage of a favorable environment in the short-term, perhaps strengthening into the first hurricane of the year in the Atlantic. While interests in the Lesser Antilles and eastern Caribbean should monitor the progress of Beryl closely, the storm will be encountering an increasingly unfavorable environment as it nears the Caribbean. High wind shear will greatly weaken the storm, if not completely tear it apart by late this weekend or early next week. Even after weakening though, the remnants of Beryl will bring some rain and wind impacts to parts of the Caribbean next week.