It’s something we’ve never seen before in June. The southeastern Caribbean Islands are bracing for a Category 4 landfall within hours from Hurricane Beryl.

Beryl has 130mph winds and this is a very dangerous situation for Barbados, Grenada, the Grenadines, St. Vincent and Tobago. These areas are all under a Hurricane Warning as Beryl is expected to bring life-threatening storm surge and hurricane-force-winds.

The storm underwent an eyewall replacement last night – early Monday morning. During this timeframe, it briefly weakened to a Cat 3 before reaching Cat 4 strength again just hours away from expected landfall.

As far as records go, Hurricane Beryl is the first Category 4 storm to develop in June. It is the earliest Category 4 hurricane on record.

A storm of this magnitude in this part of the Atlantic is something we typically see in August or September, during peak hurricane season.

Hurricane Beryl rapidly intensified over the weekend, strengthening from a tropical storm at a major hurricane. Winds went from 65mph to 130mph in about 24 hours.

After a landfall in the Windward Islands today, Beryl is expected to remain a powerful hurricane as it moves across the Caribbean Sea.

Later this week, Beryl will have to battle stronger wind shear which could impact the storm’s strength. Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Hispaniola should remain on high alert as we watch Beryl’s track.

Hurricane Beryl is now at Category 3 strength after the storm quickly intensified over the last 24 hours. Sustained winds are now 115mph as the storm spins about 400 miles east-southeast of Barbados.

The storm has developed an eye and deep convection is becoming more organized around the storm’s center this morning, a sign of the storm strengthening.

As Beryl spins over very warm Atlantic waters, it is forecast to become a Category 4 hurricane when it reaches the Windward Islands early Monday. All conditions are favorable for additional strengthening before impacting land.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward about 15 miles from the center, while tropical-storm-force winds extend out about 80 miles.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for:

• Barbados
• St. Lucia
• St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands
• Grenada
• Tobago

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for: Martinique. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for: Dominica

Once Beryl enters the Caribbean, the storm will encounter stronger wind shear which will likely cause the hurricane to weaken through mid-week. But at this point, forecasts still call for it to maintain Category 2 strength.

Hurricane Beryl is moving mostly due west at a quick 21mph. With a strong ridge just north of Beryl, steering flow will keep the storm on a mainly westward path through the Caribbean.

Model guidance is in pretty good agreement over the storm’s track, with a few outliers showing a slightly more NW track.

This is a rare storm for this point in the season and is already breaking records. Beryl is the farthest east a hurricane has formed on record during the month of June.

At this point, this storm is no threat to mainland U.S. but a dangerous situation is unfolding for the Windward Islands.

We’ll be watching this closely. Check back for the latest updates.