Beryl, the season’s first hurricane, forms — and sets a record

Beryl became the Atlantic Basin’s first hurricane of what is becoming a precocious 2024 season, and immediately set a record.

No hurricane has formed so far east in the tropical Atlantic in June, according to Colorado State University tropical storm expert PhilipKlotzbach. Such storms are more typical of later in the season.

Beryl was intensifying “rapidly” and was forecast to grow to “major” status with peak winds up to 120 mph and become “a dangerous storm when it reaches the Caribbean Windward Islands late Sunday night or Monday,” the National Hurricane Center said.

Hurricane watches and warnings were in effect for much of the Caribbean Windward Islands.

At 5 p.m., the storm was about 700 miles east-southeast of Barados, the center said, with peak winds at 75 mph, just above the hurricane threshold.

In addition, two other disturbances in the Atlantic Basin, which includes the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and the North Atlantic, are expected to grow into named storms, those with winds of at least 39 mph.

On average, the first hurricane of the season doesn’t form until Aug. 11, and the second named storm doesn’t develop until July 17.

With ultra-warm sea-surface temperatures and a lack of upper-air shearing winds that can inhibit storm development, hurricane forecasters have been warning that this would be an ultra-active season.

They may have been on to something.