Beryl is a hurricane that reached Category 5 really fast in the Caribbean Sea over the Venezuela bringing gust winds of 250-270 km/h and waves up to 9-11m. Hurricane Beryl broke a new record as the earliest category five Atlantic hurricane in records going back around 100 years, due to warmer sea surface temperatures. In more detail, Beryl belongs to the rapidly intensifying group of hurricanes, among the fastest storms that occurred before September. It also maintains a duration of over 80 hours as a category 4 and 5 hurricane: several long-lived hurricanes of this category occurred between September and October. The above-average water temperatures are those that are normally reached in September and at the beginning of the season and are fundamental for the genesis and rapid deepening of these vortex structures. In fact the storm shocked many scientists as it took only 42 hours to go from a tropical depression to a major hurricane.
Beryl killed more than 14 people and destoyed every house in two islands: Hurricane Beryl, as it crossed through the Caribbean Sea it left a trail of devastation as it destroyed houses and killed at least 10 people. St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Venezuela reported three deaths each, while one person died in Jamaica, while it destroyed every house on two small islands in St Vincent and the Grenadines, Mayreau and Union.
Hurricane Beryl’s today and future course: Beryl, today made a landfall over Mexico’s Caribbean coast, and it has weakened to a hurricane category 1 with wind gusts of 150-160 km/h and waves up to 5-6m. Tomorrow, it will cross over to the Gulf of Mexico where it will be downgraded to a Tropical Storm with wind gusts up to 110-120 km/h, torrential rain and severe thunderstorms. Then, it seems that it will continue a northwestern course in the Gulf of Mexico towards South Padre Island, Texas close to the Texas-Mexico border, as a Category 1 hurricane between Sunday night and Monday morning. It is possible that it will be upgraded to a Category 1 before it makes a landfall, due to the warm sea temperatures that will help it regain power.
Beryl can pose a danger to the US Gulf Coast from Saturday as it will enter in the Gulf of Mexico as it will churn up seas and bring waves up to 5-7m, bringing life-threatening rip currents.
After Beryl makes a land over southern Texas, somewhere between the South Padre Island and Corpus Christy it is predicted, with today’s latest data, that it will move northeastwards towards San Antonio, Killeen and Houston. If this course verifies, Beryl will become the first US landfall storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season.