A major hurricane is considered Category 3 or greater.
Bridgetown:
Much of the southeastern Caribbean was on alert Sunday as Beryl became the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, with forecasters warning it would quickly become a major storm.
The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Beryl – currently churning in the Atlantic Ocean about 530 miles (850 kilometers) east of Barbados – was expected to bring “life-threatening winds and storm surge” when it made landfall in the Windward Islands. earlier. Monday.
Warning that the storm was “getting stronger,” the NHC predicted it would become a “dangerous major hurricane” when it hit Caribbean communities.
Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada were all under hurricane warnings, while tropical storm watches or watches were in effect for Martinique, Tobago and Dominica, the NHC said in its latest statement.
Cars were seen lined up at gas stations in Barbados’ capital, Bridgetown, while supermarkets and grocery stores were packed with shoppers purchasing food, water and other supplies. Some families were already boarding up their properties.
A major hurricane is considered Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with winds of at least 111 miles per hour (179 kilometers per hour).
A storm so powerful that it forms at the start of the Atlantic hurricane season — which runs from early June to late November — is extremely rare, experts say.
“Only five major hurricanes (category 3+) were recorded in the Atlantic before the first week of July. Beryl would be the sixth and first this far east in the tropical Atlantic,” hurricane expert Michael Lowry posted on social media platform X.
The NHC said that from 02:00 (0600 GMT) on Sunday, Beryl’s maximum sustained winds increased to almost 145 km/h with stronger gusts.
“Hurricane conditions are expected in the hurricane warning area from Monday morning,” it said, warning of heavy rain, flooding and storm surge that could raise water levels up to 7 feet above normal. .
“Devastating wind damage is expected where Beryl’s eyewall moves through parts of the Windward Islands,” the NHC said, indicating that wind speeds in some locations could be 30 percent stronger than those listed in the your statement.
The Saffir-Simpson wind scale designates Category 1 hurricanes as having wind speeds of at least 74 mph, up to Category 5 storms with winds of 157 mph or more.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in late May that it expects this year to be an “extraordinary” hurricane season, with up to seven Category 3 or higher storms.
The agency cited warm Atlantic Ocean temperatures and conditions related to the La Nina weather phenomenon in the Pacific for the expected increase in storms.
Extreme weather events, including hurricanes, have become more frequent and more devastating in recent years as a result of climate change.
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