Tropical Storm Beryl became a hurricane Saturday afternoon, and forecasters expect it to become a dangerous major hurricane as it barrels toward the Windward Islands, forecasters said.

The Category 1 storm is approaching Barbados and is expected to bring life-threatening storm surges and dangerous rip currents in the Atlantic. The government of Barbados has issued a hurricane warning for the island.

The second tropical system of the Atlantic hurricane season, Beryl was about 770 miles east-southeast of Barbados and had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph as of 5 p.m. Saturday. It was moving rapidly west at 22 mph.

A hurricane watch is in effect for St. Lucia,  St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada and a tropical storm watch is in effect for  Martinique, Dominica and Tobago. Other advisories are expected as Hurricane Beryl moves further into the Caribbean.

Beryl may bring 1 to 4 inches of rain to southeastern Puerto Rico on Monday night and into Tuesday.  Its peak winds are expected to reach 115 mph by Monday morning and 120 mph by Monday evening.

Hurricane Beryl is the first hurricane of the 2024 season. Tropical Storm Alberto, the first named storm of the season, left at least four people dead in Mexico after it made landfall June 20.

Although the storm is currently expected to stay south of South Florida, meteorologists urged local residents to monitor the progress of the cyclone. The storm’s track is expected to bring it south of Jamaica, which is about 620 miles south of West Palm Beach.

It is unclear what, if any, impacts the storm could have on South Florida.

“At this point, it is far too early to speculate on impacts on South Florida,” Sammy Hadi, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami, said Saturday. “It is something to monitor.”

Excessive heat, however, was in the forecast. The National Weather Service did not issue a heat advisory Saturday for Palm Beach County, but it did so for Monroe, Miami-Dade and Broward counties, and Collier County on the west coast. The “feels like” temperature in Collier on Saturday was expected to reach 110 degrees, the weather service said.

Hurricane Beryl developed quickly after it was declared a tropical depression and then a tropical storm Friday.

Conditions in the atmosphere and ocean where Beryl is moving are “abnormally favorable for strengthening,” the hurricane center has said. Conditions appear to be less conducive after the storm enters the Caribbean, with more wind shear that may end the strengthening and cause slow weakening, the center said this morning.

Beryl will bring the risk of heavy rainfall, hurricane-force winds and dangerous storm surge and waves.”A life-threatening storm surge will raise water levels by as much as 5 to 7 feet above normal tide levels in areas of onshore flow in the hurricane watch areas,” hurricane specialist John Cangialosi wrote in the hurricane center’s 2 p.m. Saturday advisory. “Near the coast, the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves.”

The Daily Nation newspaper in Barbados reported Saturday that the center of the storm was projected to pass about 25 miles south of the country, “with impacts anticipated as early as Sunday night.” Rainfall of 3 to 6 inches is expected, with severe thunderstorms likely to disrupt electrical power, the paper said.

Additional hurricane and tropical storm watches, and possibly warnings, were likely to be issued for portions of the Windward and southern Leeward Islands later Saturday. Those living in the central and western Caribbean should monitor the system’s progress, the center said, noting that there is uncertainty in the forecast.

The hurricane center is also monitoring two additional tropical waves in the Atlantic: a system in the Caribbean has about a 40% chance of developing into a tropical storm over the next seven days, while one in the Atlantic has a 60% chance.

On average, the second named storm of a season doesn’t typically form until July 17, with the third trailing on Aug. 3.

Normally, Saharan dust is too thick this time of year for much to get going in the tropical Atlantic between the Caribbean and Africa, but Beryl and its companion are at such low latitudes they are avoiding the bulk of the dust.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Windward Islands brace for Beryl; effect on South Florida unclear