NORFOLK, Va. —
In the Atlantic...
The first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season has formed. As of the 5:00 PM advisory from the National Hurricane Center, they have upgraded Beryl from a tropical storm to a category one hurricane with winds of 75mph.
Hurricane Beryl formed Saturday evening, about 1000 miles east of Barbados, moving west at 22 mph and is forecast to strengthen into a major hurricane by Monday morning.
Hurricane warnings have been issued for several Caribbean islands including Barbados, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada, meaning hurricane conditions are expected within the next 48 hours.
Sea surface temperatures have been record-warm in the North Atlantic. Water temperatures have been 2-5° F warmer than normal in the main development region across the tropical Atlantic.
With so much warm water to fuel tropical development across the tropical Atlantic, it comes as no surprise that we have our second tropical storm of the year. We're also watching two other areas for potential development.
Models suggest Hurricane Beryl will continue on a west-northwestward track through the Caribbean and may impact Jamaica next week.
Aside from Hurricane Beryl, we are watching a tropical wave that is located several hundred miles south-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands. Conditions appear generally 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.
In the Caribbean...
We are also watching a broad area of low pressure over the northwestern Caribbean Sea. Development of this low is not anticipated before it moves inland over the Yucatan Peninsula on Saturday. The system is then forecast to move west-northwestward, emerging over the Bay of Campeche Saturday night or early Sunday, where conditions appear generally conducive for further development. A tropical depression could form before the system moves inland again early next week over Mexico. Regardless of development, heavy rainfall associated with the area of low pressure will affect portions of Central America and Mexico through early next week.
We are keeping close tabs on all the developments in the tropics, so continue to check back with us on 13News Now for updates.