Hurricane Beryl, a dangerous Category 3 storm, is expected to make landfall in the Windward Islands this morning, endangering several island communities with potentially deadly storm surge, violent winds and flash flooding.
The hurricane is moving west, just south of Barbados, and is expected to pass through the Windward Islands on Monday morning (1), with Saint Vincent, the Grenadines and Grenada at greater risk of being hit by the storm’s core.
Beryl’s arrival marks an unusually early — and likely devastating — start to the Atlantic hurricane season. It reached Category 4 strength on Sunday (30), becoming the first storm of that strength ever recorded in the Atlantic Ocean and the only Category 4 storm ever recorded in the month of June. By Monday morning, the storm had weakened slightly to Category 3.
If Beryl regains some of its strength, it will be the strongest storm the region has seen since Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
Island residents were scrambling to complete final emergency preparations Sunday night, even as tropical storm-force winds approached. Local authorities warned of potentially catastrophic impacts, including damage to homes, widespread power outages and threats to residents’ safety.
“I want everyone in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to take this matter very seriously,” said Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves. “There are some people who hope for the best and we all have to do that, but we all have to prepare for the worst.”
Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados reported winds of up to 60 mph.
More than 400 people were housed in hurricane shelters in Barbados on Sunday night, the country’s chief shelter director, Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, told the Barbados affiliate. CNN CBC News. “I’m pleased that people are using the shelters. If they don’t feel comfortable in their homes, it’s best to go to a shelter,” she said.
Airports in Barbados, Grenada and Saint Lucia were closed on Sunday night due to Beryl’s approach. Grenada’s Maurice Bishop International Airport is expected to reopen on Tuesday morning, a spokesperson said. Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados and St. Lucia’s Hewanorra International and George Charles airports also halted operations.
An unprecedented start to hurricane season
Beryl is ushering in an unusually early start to a hurricane season that forecasters have warned will be hyperactive — and Beryl’s record activity could be a sign of things to come.
This season has already gotten off to a rocky start with a second storm – Tropical Storm Chris – making landfall near Tuxpan, Mexico, on the Gulf Coast early Monday (1).
Beryl is the first major hurricane – defined as Category 3 or higher – in the Atlantic in 58 years. The storm’s rapid intensification is very atypical this early in the hurricane season, according to National Hurricane Center Director Mike Brennan. It is rare for tropical systems to form in the central Atlantic east of the Lesser Antilles in June, especially strong systems, as only a handful of tropical systems have done so, according to NOAA records.
The storm is not just at the beginning of this season. It is now the third major hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean. The first was Hurricane Alma on June 8, 1966, followed by Hurricane Audrey, which reached major hurricane status on June 27, 1957.
Beryl also set the record for the easternmost hurricane formed in the Tropical Atlantic in June, beating the previous record set in 1933.
The Central and Eastern Atlantic traditionally becomes most active in August, in part because ocean temperatures have had time to warm and fuel developing systems.
This year, however, the Atlantic basin has seen above-normal water temperatures due to the transition from the El Niño season to the La Niña season, both of which fuel tropical development.
“Beryl found an environment with ocean waters that were very warm for this time of year,” Brennan said.
The formation of systems so early in the summer in this part of the Atlantic is a sign of the hyperactive hurricane season to come, according to research by Phil Klotzbach, a hurricane expert and research scientist at Colorado State University. Typically, ocean temperatures are not warm enough in June and July to help tropical systems thrive.
National Weather Service meteorologists predict 17 to 25 named storms this season, with up to 13 of them becoming hurricanes.
“That’s well above average,” Brennan noted.
Source: CNN Brasil
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