Weather Insider: What’s happening with Hurricane Beryl

As of 5:00 PM AST (4:00 PM EST) on June 29th, Hurricane Beryl became the first hurricane to form in the Atlantic basin of the 2024 season. By 8:00 AM EST the next day, it had strengthened to a major category 3 storm before reaching category 4 status later the same day.

As of the latest update (11:00 PM AST), Beryl remains an extremely dangerous category 4 hurricane with a central pressure of 959mb and maximum sustained winds of 130 MPH. This makes Beryl both the earliest category 4 storm to date and the most powerful storm ever recorded in the month of June. It is also unusual to see a storm this strong this early into the season and is a foreboding sign of what's to come in the months ahead.

As of the latest update, there are hurricane and tropical storm warnings in place for several islands throughout the Lesser Antilles. There are also tropical storm watches in place for the southern coasts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. The storm is expected to stay a major hurricane for a few more days before weakening to a hurricane where it will likely stroke the Yucatan Peninsula.