The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has upgraded Beryl to a hurricane, and a Hurricane Warning has been activated for Barbados, while Hurricane Watches are in effect for St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada and its dependencies.
At 5 pm today, Hurricane Beryl was located near 10.1ºN latitude 49.3ºW longitude, approximately 1250 km ESE of Tobago.
Beryl is moving towards the west near 35km/h. A relatively quick westward to west-north-westward motion is expected during the next few days. On the forecast track, the system is expected to move across the Windward Islands late Sunday night into Monday.
Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 120 km/h with higher gusts. Continued steady to rapid strengthening is forecast and Beryl is expected to become a major hurricane before it reaches the Windward Islands. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 20 km from the centre and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 95 km.
A map showing the probable path of Hurricane Beryl as at 5:00 pm on Saturday 29 June 2024. [Image courtesy National Hurricane Centre]
A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Tobago as it lies on the southern edge of the track's cone of uncertainty (Figure 1), and there remains a low to medium (30% to 40%) chance of Tropical Storm conditions. At this time, the system poses no direct threat to Trinidad, as the probability for Tropical Storm conditions is low (5-15%).
The initial outlook for Trinidad and Tobago is for cloudy skies with showers and a medium to high chance of thunderstorm activity by Monday 1st July 2024. Sea conditions are expected to become choppy and occasionally rough from early Monday morning, as Beryl moves across the Windward Islands.
A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Barbados.
A Hurricane Watch is in effect for the following islands: St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada and its dependencies.
A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the following islands: Tobago, Martinique and Dominica.
The TTMS continues to monitor this system very closely and will issue an update at 11 pm (29th June, 2024) or earlier if the situation warrants. As always, pay close attention to information being issued by the TTMS by visiting www.metoffice.gov.tt, downloading our mobile app (search: TT Met Office) and following us on our social media platforms.
