Tropical Storm Beryl gained strength Saturday as the National Hurricane Center forecasts it to become the season’s first hurricane while approaching the Caribbean.

As of 8 a.m., the center of Beryl was located 975 miles east-southeast of Barbados with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph heading west at 21 mph. It has tropical-storm-force winds extending out 45 miles.

The system formed Friday as a tropical depression but gained named status late Friday with 40 mph winds.

“Steady to rapid strengthening is expected during the next couple of days, and Beryl is forecast to become a hurricane tonight or early Sunday with additional strengthening expected after that,” said NHC senior hurricane specialist John Cangialosi.

A hurricane watch has been issued for Barbados, but more watches and warnings are likely as it approaches the Lesser Antilles.

“A relatively quick westward to west-northwestward motion is expected during the next few days. On the forecast track, the system is expected to move
across the Windward Islands late Sunday night and Monday,” Cangialosi said.

Storm surge is expected to raise water levels from 2 to 4 feet with 3 to 6 inches of rain across the Barbados and Windward Islands, while large surf will hit the Windwards and southern Leeward Islands by late Sunday.

The forecast expects the storm’s intensity to grow to a Category 2 hurricane on Monday as it moves into the Caribbean with 100 mph sustained winds and 120 mph gusts.

“Atmospheric and oceanic conditions over the western tropical Atlantic and the eastern Caribbean Sea are abnormally favorable for strengthening,” said NHC senior hurricane specialist Jack Beven in the NHC’s storm discission. “The rapid intensification indices in the SHIPS model are showing a significant chance of rapid intensification.”

It’s forecast to intensify more in the warm Caribbean waters up to near Category 3 strength with 110 mph sustained winds and 130 mph gusts.

It’s expected to churn through the open water south of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, but the five-day cone of uncertainty has its center parked over Jamaica on late Wednesday or early Thursday. The cone’s range, though, shows the storm could shift north to over Haiti and into Cuba.

Meteorologist Philip Klotzbach with Colorado State University said the formation of a hurricane this far east in the Atlantic has not happened in decades and that Beryl is already the strongest storm to form in June ever this far east.

It could best a record set in 1933 if it becomes a hurricane.

He said only two hurricanes on record since 1851 have been within 100 miles of Barbados prior to August, hurricanes Emily in 2005 and Elsa in 2021.

The NHC is also tracking two other systems with a chance to develop into a tropical depression or storm.

On the heels of Beryl in the eastern tropical Atlantic is an area of low pressure several hundred miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands with disorganized showers and thunderstorms.

“Environmental conditions appear conducive for additional development of this system, and a tropical depression could form by the middle of next week while it moves generally westward at 15 to 20 mph across the eastern and central tropical Atlantic,” forecasters said.

The NHC gives it a 20% chance to develop in the next two days, and 60% in the next seven.

Meanwhile, a broad area of low pressure is expected to form over the Bay of Campeche by early Sunday from the remnants of a tropical wave that moved across the Caribbean.

“A tropical depression could form before the system moves inland again early next week over Mexico. Interests along the Gulf coast of Mexico should monitor the progress of this system,” forecasters said,

It’s expected to drop heavy rain on portions of Central America and Mexico through early next week.

The NHC gives it a 40% chance to develop in the next two to seven days.

The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1, but its first named storm, Tropical Storm Alberto, did not develop until June 19. Forecasters with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predict 2024 to be an above average year with 17 to 25 named storms possible.

The height of hurricane season traditionally comes from mid-August into October. The season ends on Nov. 30.