….Tiny Beryl becomes the first hurricane of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season.
At 5 am or 0900z the centre of hurricane Beryl was located near latitude 10.6 north, longitude 45.1 west or about 1029 miles east-southeast of the Leeward Islands. Hurricane Beryl is moving toward the west at 14 miles per hour. A faster westnorthwestward motion is expected through the weekend.
Maximum sustained winds are near 75 mph with higher gusts. Some additional strengthening is forecast today. Beryl is forecast to quickly weaken by late Saturday and become a tropical storm or degenerate into a strong open trough near the Lesser Antilles late Sunday or Monday.
Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 10 miles from the centre and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 35 miles.
The estimated minimum central pressure is 995mb or 29.39 inches.
There continues to be much uncertainty in how much Beryl will strengthen, or otherwise, before reaching the islands. However, it remains quite likely that locally heavy rains and strong gusty winds associated with the system will impact portions of the Leeward Islands on Sunday and Monday.
Residents of the Leewards are advised to closely monitor its progress.
The next advisory will be at 11 am.