Hurricane Beryl took aim at the Windward Islands on Monday as a powerful Category 4 storm with 130 mph winds.

The National Hurricane Center said Beryl, the first hurricane of 2024 in the Atlantic, is expected to bring life-threatening winds and 6 to 9 feet of storm surge to some of the islands.

Beryl’s forecast path takes the intense hurricane deeper into the Caribbean, where it could bring wind and flooding to parts of Hispaniola, Jamaica the the Cayman Islands.

The hurricane center’s official forecast path suggests Beryl could hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula and then travel into the southern Gulf of Mexico. But by then it could be a tropical storm.

It’s still too soon to say if Beryl could threaten the U.S., but Mexico’s Gulf Coast appeared to be a more likely target.

The hurricane center on Monday was also tracking Tropical Depression Chris, which moved onshore on Mexico’s Gulf Coast, and a tropical wave that could become a tropical depression in a day or two that could follow right behind Beryl.

As of 7 a.m. CDT Monday, the center of Hurricane Beryl was located about 70 miles east of Grenada and was tracking to the west-northwest at 20 mph.

Aircraft reconnaissance found that Beryl’s winds had increased to 130 mph on Monday, after dropping a bit to 120 mph overnight. The hurricane center said fluctuations in strength are expected in the next few days, but “Beryl is expected to remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane as its core moves through the Windward Islands into the eastern Caribbean.”

Beryl could weaken some as it moves deeper into the Caribbean and wind shear increases.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands, Grenada and Tobago.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for St. Lucia, Martinique and Trinidad.

A tropical storm watch was in effect for the south coast of the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque westward to the border with Haiti and the south coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to Anse d’Hainault.

On the forecast track, the center of Beryl is expected to move across the Windward Islands this morning and across the southeastern and central Caribbean Sea late today through Wednesday.

Beryl could bring a devastating 6- to 9-foot storm surge to the Windward Islands and 3 to 6 inches of rain.

ELSEWHERE IN THE ATLANTIC

The hurricane center was also tracking Tropical Depression Chris and another tropical wave on Monday.

Chris made landfall late Sunday at Veracruz on Mexico’s Gulf Coast with 40 mph winds.

It was downgraded to a tropical depression Monday morning and is expected to dissipate later today.

Farther to the east was another disturbance in the central Atlantic.

That tropical wave’s chances of becoming a tropical depression decreased slightly on Monday morning to 60 percent over the next seven days.

The hurricane center said the disturbance was located about 1,000 miles east-southeast of the Windward Islands and was on a path westward at 15 to 20 mph.

The forecast for the system was slightly less favorable than it has been — the hurricane center said conditions were only marginally conducive for additional development but that a depression could still form by mid-week.

Forecasters cautioned those in the Lesser Antilles to also keep an eye on that disturbance, which is expected to approach the islands later this week.

There were no other systems being watched for development on Monday.