- Beryl is likely to have a devastating impact on Jamaica on Wednesday.
- That puts the Cayman Islands and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula at risk this week.
- It will also pose a threat to the western Gulf Coast from Texas to Mexico early next week.
- Hurricane Beryl struck the Windsor Islands on Monday and became a Category 5 storm overnight, the fastest in the Atlantic.
Hurricane Beryl is on the brink of potentially causing a devastating blow to Jamaica before hitting the Cayman Islands and the Yucatan Peninsula before facing an uncertain future in the Gulf of Mexico, with possible impacts extending into eastern Mexico and Texas.
Current status: The eye of Beryl continues to move rapidly west-northwest across the northern Caribbean Sea with Category 4 strength well south of Hispaniola, although some heavy rainbands have reached as far as the Dominican Republic and Haiti, potentially causing flooding and landslides.
(More details: Beryl was the oldest Category 5 on record)
The following areas have warnings and advisories in place: Hurricane warnings have been issued for Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
A hurricane watch was issued for the east coast of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, and a tropical storm watch was issued as far south as Belize City, Belize.
Areas under hurricane warnings need to rush to get their preparations done. Areas under hurricane watches need to make sure they have hurricane preparedness plans in place.
Here’s what’s coming up for Beryl across the Caribbean: Beryl will continue to move west-northwestward through the Caribbean Sea this week, weakening into a hurricane as wind shear intensifies, but it remains a significant threat.
- Wednesday: Beryl is expected to hit Jamaica with devastating winds and life-threatening coastal flooding from a storm surge six to nine feet above normal wind-driven tides. Torrential rains could cause flash flooding and landslides in Jamaica and Haiti. This could be the strongest hurricane to hit Jamaica in nearly 17 years, since Hurricane Dean in 2007.
- ThursdayBeryl is forecast to approach the Cayman Islands as a hurricane, particularly Grand Cayman, bringing with it storm surge flooding, strong winds and heavy rainfall.
- Friday: Beryl is expected to make landfall as a hurricane along the Belize border and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula from Costa Maya to Cancun. Storm surge flooding, potentially damaging winds, and flooding rains are possible.
(more: What the forecast cone means and what it doesn’t mean)
Latest updates and predicted routes
(The red shaded area shows the potential path of the tropical cyclone’s center. It is important to note that the impacts of a tropical cyclone (especially heavy rainfall, high waves, coastal flooding, and winds) typically extend beyond the projected path.)
US Concerns: Beryl is a A high pressure heat dome over the southeastern United States will bring stormy conditions to the southwestern Gulf of Mexico this weekend.
There is considerable uncertainty about Beryl’s future beyond that.
The upper-level heat dome in the southeastern U.S. is expected to weaken and retreat off the southeast coast, creating a gap between it and the heat dome over the western U.S.
That has led some computer forecasting models to suggest Beryl may eventually move northwest or north out of the western Gulf of Mexico, which could take it anywhere from the eastern Gulf coast of Mexico to Texas early next week.
Wind shear and land interactions should weaken Beryl by the time it reaches the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, but it could still have significant impacts on the Gulf Coast as a tropical storm or hurricane. It may also reintensify.
For now, residents along the Gulf Coast from eastern Mexico to Texas should monitor weather forecasts over the next few days.
A coastal threat could begin this weekend. Well ahead of Beryl, onshore winds could increase high surf, rip currents, and coastal flooding along parts of the Gulf Coast from eastern Mexico to Texas and western Louisiana as early as Saturday, until Beryl finally makes landfall. The threat of rip currents may also extend farther east along the northern Gulf Coast.
Keep this in mind if you are planning on hitting the beach along these coasts over the holiday weekend.
Just a few weeks ago, Tropical Storm Alberto caused massive flooding along the Texas coast.
Summary of Beryl’s historic landing in the Windward Islands
Beryl made landfall on the Grenadian island of Carriacou just after 11 a.m. EDT on Monday with maximum winds of 150 mph. Only two Category 4 hurricanes have ever formed near Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but Beryl had the strongest winds.
(more: All the ways Beryl has made history)
Storm Report: Storm chasers Brandon Clement and Jonathan Petramala reported that the roof of a building they were covering on Carriacou island was blown off late Monday morning as the eye of the storm closed in. An alert issued by the National Hurricane Center at 11 a.m. EDT on Monday said there were “multiple reports of downed trees, flooded roads, power outages and storm surge flooding in the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados and Tobago.”
The hurricane briefly weakened to Category 3 overnight through an eyewall replacement cycle before regaining Category 4 strength on Monday morning.
The wind area has expanded since Sunday, with hurricane-force winds now extending up to 40 miles from the center of Beryl.
As the eye of Hurricane Beryl passed south of Barbados, wind gusts of 69 mph were recorded early Monday at the island’s main airport, Grantley Adams International Airport. In Grenada, wind gusts of up to 121 mph were recorded as the center of Hurricane Beryl passed just north of the island. Wind gusts of 64 mph were also reported in St. Lucia.
Beryl has been growing in strength since the clash on Carriacou Island.
For more information, visit WEATHER.COM
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