Forecast track of Tropical Storm Beryl. Map courtesy National Hurricane Center

In the 8 a.m. update Saturday, the storm was 890 miles east-southwest of Barbados. The storm’s maximum sustained winds increased to 60 mph going 21 mph west.

A hurricane watch is in effect for Barbados.

Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles from the center.

Steady to rapid strengthening is expected during the next couple of days, and Beryl is forecast to become a hurricane Saturday night or early Sunday with additional strengthening than expected, NHC said.

On the west-northwest forecast track, the system is expected to move across the Windward Islands late Sunday night and Monday.

“After 72 hours, the storm is expected to encounter increasing westerly shear, which should cause some weakening,” NHC forecaster Jack Beven said.

Beryl is expected to produce rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches across Barbados and the Windward Islands. This rainfall may produce localized flooding in vulnerable areas.

The first hurricane usually isn’t reached until Aug. 11, Fox Weather reported.

Only seven named storms have formed over the last 173 years in this sector of the Atlantic before July 4, according to Accuweather.

The Fox Forecast Center expects Beryl to remain south of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, but a passing band of showers cannot be ruled out.

The first tropical storm, Alberto, made landfall over Mexico on June 20 and then pummeled Texas the next day with rain.

Beryl is just one of several disturbances that AccuWeather meteorologists are tracking across the Atlantic hurricane basin.

“We continue to observe much higher-than-historical-average water temperatures over most of the Atlantic, and this is the premise for the robust activity now and that Accuweather has been anticipating a super-charged hurricane season for 2024 since this past winter, AccuWeather Senior Storm Warning Meteorologist Eddie Walker said.