Tropical Depression intensifies to TS Beryl, poses hurricane threat to Windward Islands

As the Caribbean region continues to face the impacts of hurricane season since its beginning on June 1, it is being reported that the Tropical Depression has strengthened into Tropical Storm Beryl.

According to the reports, Tropical Storm Beryl is forecasted to strengthen and be a hurricane when it reaches the Windward Islands late Sunday or Monday. This will bring a risk of heavy rainfall, hurricane force winds and dangerous storm surge and waves.

Some forecasters are also anticipating that it will become a category two hurricane in the Eastern Caribbean early next week.

This is the second named storm of the year, just hours after Tropical Depression Two. According to the National Hurricane Centre, the system is expected to build over the next 24 to 48 hours.

According to the predicted route, this system is said to move towards north of Trinidad and Tobago. The experts say that the heaviest rainfall and strongest winds will fall between Tobago and Saint Lucia, while going through Grenada, Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Not only this, but this storm is now the second farthest east Storm to form in June in recorded history with Bret (2023) taking 1st place. As of the 10pm advisory from the National Hurricane Center, the center of Beryl was located about 1110 miles east-southeast of Barbados and the storm was moving to the west at 18 mph.

The NHC has also stated that hurricane and tropical storm watches will likely be required for parts of the Windward and southern Leeward Islands early Saturday.

The Barbados Meteorological Services said that they are continuing to closely monitor the development of TS Beryl which is located near 9.3N 43.6W 1100 miles/ 1800 km east-southeast of Barbados, at 11 pm on Friday.

They said that a hurricane watch may be issued by Saturday morning, and the system is expected to affect Barbados late Sunday night, June 30, into Monday, July 1, 2024. This may result in flash flooding while storm force winds are forecasted to impact the island during that time.