Hurricane Beryl reaches Category 5 strength in southeastern Caribbean – Houston Public Media

Hurricane Beryl strengthened into a “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 storm Monday night, the National Hurricane Center said, as it moved through islands in the southeastern Caribbean.

Beryl’s winds increased to 160 mph on the Saffir-Sampson scale Monday night, the hurricane center said. The storm was located about 510 miles east-southeast of Beata Island in the Dominican Republic and was moving west-northwest at 22 mph.

“Fluctuations in strength are likely over the next few days, but Beryl is still expected to be near major hurricane intensity as it moves toward the central Caribbean and passes near Jamaica on Wednesday,” the NHC said.

A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica.

Earlier Monday, Beryl’s eye “made landfall on the island of Carriacou” bringing 150 mph winds and dangerous storm surge to the eastern Caribbean islands, the NHC said. The storm hit the island after another wave of rapid strengthening.

“This is an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation. Act now to protect your lives!” the center said before the hurricane made landfall Monday. “Residents of the Grenadines and Carriacou Island should not leave their shelters as winds will rapidly increase in Beryl’s eyewall.”

The Category 4 storm is moving at 20 mph (32 km/h). Its center is well south of Barbados, but Beryl is hitting the island with winds of up to 70 mph (112 km/h).

As of 2 p.m. ET, the Barbados government lifted its hurricane warning for the island.

Warnings remain in effect for St. Vincent, the Grenadines, and Grenada. A less urgent hurricane warning (meaning hurricane conditions are possible, but not explicitly expected) is in effect for Jamaica.

Beryl has been posting impressive numbers in recent days, thanks to warm ocean waters that helped it quickly gain strength after becoming a tropical depression on Friday. When it strengthened into a Category 4 storm on Sunday, it became the first Atlantic hurricane to reach that status in June.

How dangerous is the storm?

Beryl had weakened slightly to a Category 3 storm early Monday, but forecasters predicted it would likely regain strength after the eyewall replaced around the same time period.

“There is a very high risk of injury or death to people, livestock, and domestic animals from flying and falling debris,” the NHC said. “Nearly all older (pre-1994) manufactured homes will be destroyed. A high percentage of newer manufactured homes will also be destroyed,” and poorly constructed homes could have entire walls collapse.

While hurricane winds get a lot of attention, cyclones pose the greatest threat to life along with floodwaters, rainfall and storm surges.

“A life-threatening storm surge could raise water levels up to 6 to 9 feet above normal tide levels” near its landfall, the NHC said.

Despite the passage south of Barbados, Barbados Meteorological Services Director Sabu Best said in an update Monday morning that wind gusts were dangerously strong, 50 to 70 mph, urging residents to stay indoors until the “all clear” is announced. The rainfall, he added, has not been as heavy as expected.

What is Beryl’s expected path?

The hurricane is currently tracking west-northwest, passing through the Windward Islands Monday morning before moving across the southeastern and central Caribbean Sea, the NHC said.

An Atlantic hurricane typically follows a west-northwest trajectory. And while many storms that have hit the United States have ended up tracking significantly northward, Beryl is expected to maintain a mostly westward motion until it reaches Mexico. Its current projected track is farther south than previous forecasts.

Current forecasts call for the first tropical storm-force winds to hit Central America on Wednesday night. The Mexican coastal states of Quintana Roo and Yucatan are expected to feel these winds on Thursday.

What about ocean warming?

Climate change, particularly the current trend of rising air and ocean temperatures, has led to more intense hurricanes and other storms. And this year, that dynamic is already rewriting the record books.

Since forming in late June, Beryl is now the earliest Category 4 storm in the Atlantic; it is also “the furthest east a hurricane has formed in the tropical Atlantic (<= 23.5°N) in June on record, breaking the previous record set in 1933," as Colorado State University meteorologist Phil Klotzbach told X.

Near-record ocean temperatures in the Atlantic have been cited as one reason National Weather Service forecasters have predicted an unusually active Atlantic hurricane season, with as many as 25 named storms.

Warm ocean water contributes to the explosive growth of a storm, as it did in 2021, when 84-degree-F (29-degree-C) waters transformed Hurricane Sam into a major storm in a part of the Atlantic similar to Beryl. But that was in September, not June.