Hurricane Beryl strengthened into a Category 5 storm Monday night, intensifying after making landfall on Carriacou Island, Grenada’s second-largest island, earlier in the day. Beryl’s sustained winds have now reached 160 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center, and a hurricane warning has been issued for Jamaica later this week.
Beryl is now the earliest storm to reach the most severe Category 5 level in the Atlantic. Its emergence marks an early start to the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which typically doesn’t ramp up until late July or August. Here’s what you need to know.
Beryl’s escalation into a Category 5 hurricane is expected to bring “life-threatening winds” and storm surge to Jamaica Wednesday, according to the hurricane center.
A Category 5 hurricane is defined as a hurricane with sustained winds above 157 mph.
Due to record warm water temperatures for this time of year, Beryl transformed from a tropical depression on Friday to a tropical storm on Saturday morning, before it was upgraded to a hurricane hours later. Its strength has intensified quickly from there.
The hurricane center said Beryl first made landfall on Carriacou Monday morning.
Beryl’s wind speed was the strongest on record for the Grenada, the Grenadines and St. Vincent, according to Weather Channel senior meteorologist Jonathan Erdman.
A hurricane warning is now in effect for Jamaica on Wednesday, where heavy rains and flash flooding are possible. A tropical storm warning is also in effect for parts of the island of Hispaniola.
Storm warnings are issued for an area when weather conditions are expected to arrive within 36 hours.
Those in the Cayman Islands, Belize, the Yucatan Peninsula, the remainder of the northwest Caribbean, and the southwest Gulf of Mexico are advised by the hurricane center to monitor the storm’s progress, as Beryl’s path later in the week is uncertain.
