Hurricane Beryl: NOAA predicts the system will be a Cat 3 hurricane when it enters the Caribbean Sea

Tropical Storm Beryl strengthened into the year’s first hurricane on Saturday afternoon and is continuing its path toward the southeast Caribbean before reaching Barbados late Sunday.

The ABC11 First Alert Weather Team said the storm does not pose any threat to North Carolina at this time. The storm is expected to stay well south of the Tar Heel State for its entire existence.

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A hurricane warning was issued for Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. A tropical storm warning was posted for Martinique and Tobago and a tropical storm watch for Dominica.

A major hurricane is considered a Category 3 or higher, with winds of at least 111 mph (178 kph). At the moment, Beryl is a Category 1 hurricane, marking the farthest east that a hurricane has formed in the tropical Atlantic in June on record, breaking an old record set in 1933, according to Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University hurricane researcher.

Beryl’s center was forecast to pass about 26 miles (45 kilometers) south of Barbados, said Sabu Best, director of the island’s meteorological service. Forecasters then expect the storm to cross the Caribbean on a path toward Jamaica and eventually Mexico.

Late Saturday, Beryl was centered about 595 miles (955 kilometers) east-southeast of Barbados, and its maximum sustained winds had risen to 85 mph (140 kph). It was moving west at 20 mph (31 kph).

“We need to be ready,” Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley said in a public address late Friday. “You and I know when these things happen, it is better to plan for the worst and pray for the best.”

She noted that thousands of people are in Barbados for the Twenty20 World Cup cricket final, with India and South Africa playing in the capital, Bridgetown, on Saturday.

Beryl is the second named storm in what is predicted to be a busy hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30 in the Atlantic. Earlier this month, Tropical Storm Alberto came ashore in northeast Mexico with heavy rains that resulted in four deaths.

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“The development of a tropical storm this far east in the tropical Atlantic is uncommon, though not unprecedented,” wrote Michael Lowry, a Florida-based hurricane expert, in a forecast. “Only five named storms on record have formed in the tropical Atlantic east of the Caribbean.”

Of those, only one hurricane of record has formed east of the Caribbean in June, he added.

Mark Spence, manager of a hostel in Barbados, said in a phone interview that he was calm about the approaching storm.

“It’s the season. You can get a storm any time,” he said. “I’m always prepared. I always have enough food in my house.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the 2024 hurricane season is likely to be well above average, with between 17 and 25 named storms. The forecast calls for as many as 13 hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, seven of them hurricanes and three major hurricanes.

Beryl is expected to drop up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain in Barbados and nearby islands, and a high surf warning of waves up to 13 feet (4 meters) was in effect.

The storm is approaching the southeast Caribbean just days after the twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago reported major flooding in the capital of Port-of-Spain as a result of an unrelated weather event.

Meanwhile, a no-name storm earlier this June dumped more than 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain on parts of South Florida, stranding numerous motorists on flooded streets and pushing water into some homes in low-lying areas.

The Associated Press contributed to this report