Tropical Storm Beryl has strengthened into a hurricane, the first of the 2024 Atlantic season, with maximum sustained winds of 75 mph with stronger gusts, according to a 5 p.m. EST update from the National Hurricane Center.
The hurricane is located about 720 miles east southeast of Barbados, moving west at 22 mph, and is expected to continue to intensify before reaching the Windwards Islands early Monday. Beryl is now the first rapidly intensifying storm of the year, having accelerated from 35 mph to 75 mph in less than 24 hours. Rapid intensification is defined as a wind increase of 30 knots or more in a 24 hour period.
That this formed so early in the season – and in this part of the Atlantic – is a sign of the hyperactive hurricane season to come, according to research from Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert and research scientist at Colorado State University. Normally, ocean temperatures aren’t warm enough in this region in June and July to help tropical systems thrive. That’s hardly the case this year, and one of the reasons behind record-high hurricane season forecasts over the past few months.
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