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.

Hurricane Beryl continues to strengthen in the Atlantic. As of the latest update, it now has sustained winds of 85mph.

Hurricane Beryl is now expected to strengthen into a major Category 3 hurricane before crossing into the eastern Atlantic early next week. From there, The National Hurricane Center now has Beryl maintaining hurricane status as it approaches the Western Caribbean by the end of next week. There are currently no immediate tropical threats to Florida.

Hurricane Watches and Warnings have been issued for parts of the Lesser Antilles, as they brace for Beryl to likely pass by at the beginning of this week.

Otherwise, we are monitoring two separate tropical waves. One wave entering the Bay of Campeche with a medium (50%) chance of forming over the next few days. This would bring minimal or no impacts to the United States as it would likely remain weak and push west into the Mexican coastline.

Behind Beryl, we are keeping an eye on a separate disturbance with a high (70%) chance of formation over the next week. If this forms into a tropical storm or a tropical depression, models are in increasing agreement that it will push west toward the Lesser Antilles by the middle of next week. 

Our next tropical storm or hurricane would be assigned the name “Chris.”