Hurricane Beryl strengthened into a rare, early-season major hurricane on Sunday and is making a beeline for the Windward Islands.

The National Hurricane Center on Sunday morning said Beryl had explosively strengthened in the past 24 hours and now had sustained winds of 115 mph, making it a Category 3 hurricane.

And it could get stronger still.

The hurricane center said on Sunday morning that Beryl, the second named storm of 2024 in the Atlantic, is now expected to become an extremely intense Category 4 hurricane before it reaches the islands late tonight. It could have winds as high as 130 mph by that point.

“This is a very serious situation developing for the Windward Islands, so please listen to your local government and emergency management officials for any preparedness and/or evacuation orders,” the hurricane center warned.

The official forecast track takes Beryl through the Windward Islands late tonight into Monday morning, and hurricane warnings are in effect for many islands in its path.

As of 7 a.m. CDT Sunday, Hurricane Beryl was located about 420 miles east-southeast of Barbados and was on a path westward at 21 mph.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands, Grenada and Tobago.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for Martinique, and a tropical storm watch had been issued for Dominica.

The hurricane center warned those in the Lesser Antilles to keep an eye on Beryl and said more watches and warnings would likely be coming later today.

The official forecast path suggest Beryl will move across the Windward Islands early Monday and across the southeastern Caribbean Sea on Monday night into Tuesday.

Beryl could run into less favorable conditions once it gets farther into the Caribbean, though it will still be a hurricane.

The official track takes the storm near or over Jamaica as a hurricane and then near the east coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula by early Friday.

However, forecasters cautioned that there is a lot of uncertainty in the Day 4 and 5 track forecasts.

Beryl is fierce but has a small core of the most intense winds. The hurricane center said hurricane-force winds extended out only 15 miles from the center of the storm on Sunday. Tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 80 miles.

Beryl could bring a devastating 6- to 9-foot storm surge to the Windward Islands. The hurricane center also said 3 to 6 inches of rain will be possible.

ELSEWHERE IN THE ATLANTIC

The hurricane center was also tracking two other systems on Sunday.

The first was in the southwest Gulf of Mexico, or Bay of Campeche.

The hurricane center said it had a brief window to become a tropical depression today before it moves inland over Mexico’s Gulf Coast on Monday morning.

An Air Force reconnaissance aircraft is scheduled to take a closer look at it today.

It could bring a lot of rain to that region, however.

The second system was far to the east in the central Atlantic and is on a path similar to Beryl’s. It could become a tropical depression in a few days as it heads westward at 15 to 20 mph.

The next two names on the 2024 storm list are Chris and Debby.

The Atlantic hurricane season began June 1 and will end on Nov. 30.