July 1, 2024
KINGSTON, Jamaica— A hurricane watch was issued for Jamaica at 10:00am Monday as ferocious Hurricane Beryl barrelled towards the Caribbean.
The Meteorological Service of Jamaica (Met Service) announced the advisory via social media, noting that the update means that the country could start experiencing conditions associated with the hurricane within the next 48 hours.
“Hurricane Beryl has now entered the eastern Caribbean and Jamaica is at threat of impact on Wednesday, this week,” the Met Service said.
Earlier on Monday, Hurricane Beryl strengthened to an “extremely dangerous” category 4 storm as it made its way towards St Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.
In its latest bulletin, the NHC said that the hurricane hunter aircraft data indicated that the storm had strengthened and that life-threatening winds and storm surge are expected to begin affecting the Windward Islands Monday morning.
The hurricane, the first named for the 2024 Atlantic Hurricane season, is packing maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour (mph) and is moving forward at a speed of 20 mph.