When the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean coastlines worry about category 5 hurricanes, it’s usually in August. Not in 2024. Record ocean temperatures spawned the earliest category 5 hurricane on record, Hurricane Beryl.
Berly became a category 4 hurricane on Monday, July 1 as it made landfall over the Caribbean island of Carriacou. Several people were killed there and in nearby Grenada.
The storm was downgraded to a powerful category 4 storm Tuesday afternoon. Its winds are still registering at over 150 mph as of Tuesday evening. Grenadian Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell told reporters in a conference, “There is no power, and there is almost complete destruction of homes and buildings on the island. The roads are not passable, and in many instances, they are cut off because of the large quantity of debris strewn all over the streets.”
Unusual Start to Hurricane Season
Meteorologists link the early powerful storm to record-breaking warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic Basic. The earliest record-breaking earliest category 5 storm before Berly was 2005’s Hurricane Emily, which formed in July.
Temperatures in the Atlantic are upwards of five degrees Fahrenheit, warmer than usual. These warm sea surface temperatures provide fuel to storms that allow them to gain momentum and energy as they travel.
Most major hurricanes form in August and September. This year, experts are predicting an active hurricane season and some are even proposing a new category 6 label which would include storms with wind speeds of over 195 mph.
Beryl’s Path
Hurricane Beryl is moving west through the Caribbean Sea and will likely come within miles of Jamaica. Already, authorities on the island are taking precautions and warning people to seek shelter.
From there, experts predict it will continue its western movement and strike Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula as a category 1 storm.
Authorities in Mexico put out a statement that the hurricane will cross the Yucatán and enter the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm. From there, the hurricane’s path is less certain.