Hurricane Beryl has strengthened to Category 5 status, the earliest on record. Meteorologist Ryan Phillips has more.
Hurricane Beryl plowed through the Windward Islands early Monday as a mighty Category 4 hurricane. But by late Monday evening, in the eastern Caribbean, a Hurricane Hunter flight measured winds at 160 mph, bumping Beryl up to a (rare) Category 5 storm.
Beryl is now the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record.
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As if that wasn’t noteworthy enough for the second named system of the season, a host of other benchmarks were achieved over the last few days. This hurricane’s evolution and maturity is so extraordinary, here are a few items that might stick with you.
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To kick things off, Beryl is the first Category 4 hurricane on record for the month of June. Second, it featured the earliest rapid intensification from a tropical depression to a major hurricane. This accomplishment is truly impressive as it crushed the previous record of September 1st!
Indeed, this is a peak-season hurricane in early July!
Continuing, not only is it the earliest Category 4 to develop, it’s the 3rd earliest major hurricane (Category 3 or greater) in the Atlantic basin.
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Additionally, Beryl proved to be the second strongest hurricane to make landfall in the Windward Islands, second only to Maria in 2017.
Now the storm is moving swiftly through the Caribbean Sea, with a meticulously tuned forecast path that takes it dangerously close to Jamaica tomorrow. In preparation, a hurricane warning is in effect as the island begins a hurried movement to buckle down.
Let’s hope the core of the destructive winds remain offshore and Jamaica is spared. As Beryl ventures westward, it will likely arrive on the Yucatan peninsula by Friday morning.
