Hurricane Central
By weather.com meteorologists
less than an hour ago
At a Glance
- Hurricane Beryl is striking parts of the Windward Islands.
- After that, it's a threat to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
- It's still too soon to tell where it will track in the southwest Gulf of Mexico this weekend.
- There's one more system behind Beryl in the Atlantic we're watching.
Sign up for the Morning Brief email newsletter to get weekday updates from The Weather Channel and our meteorologists.
Hurricane Beryl has made a historic landfall in the Windward Islands, bringing destructive winds, storm surge and flooding rainfall. Thereafter, the hurricane faces an uncertain future in the Caribbean Sea and southwest Gulf of Mexico.
Current status: Beryl made landfall just after 11 a.m. EDT Monday over the Grenadan island of Carriacou with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. Among only two other Category 4 hurricanes in history near Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Beryl was the strongest by wind speed.
Storm chasers Brandon Clement and Jonathan Petramala reported the roof ripped off of a building they were reporting from on Carriacou Island late Monday morning as the eyewall moved in. The National Hurricane Center's 11 a.m. EDT Monday advisory cited "multiple reports of downed trees, flooded streets, power outages and storm surge flooding in the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados and Tobago."
After briefly weakening to a Category 3 overnight following an eyewall replacement cycle, the hurricane once again returned to Category 4 strength Monday morning.
Its wind field grew larger since Sunday, with hurricane-force winds now extending out up to 40 miles from Beryl's center. While its eyewall passed south of Barbados, a 69 mph gust was clocked early Monday at Grantley Adams International Airport, the island's major airport. Grenada clocked a wind gust up to 121 mph as the center of Beryl tracked just north of the island.
Watches, warnings and impacts: Hurricane warnings continue for Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands, Grenada and Tobago.
A narrow corridor of devastating wind damage is expected where Beryl's eyewall moves over the Grenadines and Grenada as it enters the Caribbean today. Life-threatening storm surge and rainfall flooding is also expected in these areas through today.
A hurricane watch has been issued for Jamaica and a tropical storm watch remains in effect for the south coast of Haiti and southwest coast of the Dominican Republic.
Beryl's Caribbean future: After moving on from the Windward Islands, we expect Beryl to take a general west-northwest track in the Caribbean Sea through the rest of this week.
(MORE: What The Forecast Cone Means, And Doesn't)
Beryl could eventually pose a danger to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands Wednesday and Thursday, and then Belize and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula on Friday. However, there's uncertainty in that exact track, as shown in the model forecast track map below, which matters for what impacts could occur.
Later this week, Beryl is expected to face increasing wind shear in the western Caribbean Sea, usually a factor that disrupts hurricanes.
Advertisem*nt
While that is expected to induce some weakening of Beryl, it is still expected to be a hurricane until its landfall in the Yucatan Peninsula later this week.
Any U.S. concern? High pressure over the Southeast should protect the eastern U.S. Gulf Coast from Beryl by this weekend.
However, if Beryl emerges into the southwest Gulf of Mexico this weekend as forecast, most model tracks eventually take Beryl into eastern Mexico, by early next week.
However, it's not out of the question Beryl could take a subtle northward jog early next week if that Southeast ridge moves away or weakens just enough.
The bottom line: All interests around the Caribbean Sea, including from Jamaica and the Cayman Islands to the Yucatan Peninsula, should monitor the forecast of Beryl closely over the next several days and have their hurricane plans ready to go.
Residents along the Gulf Coast from eastern Mexico to Texas should, for now, monitor the forecasts in the coming days.
That's not all we're watching: There is another tropical disturbance in the Atlantic Basin, as depicted in the map below.
The system is in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean and has been dubbed Invest 96L by the NHC. It has a medium chance of development this week, and will remain over the open ocean until nearing the Windward Islands around the middle of this week, just a couple of days after Beryl's devastating strike.
Chris made landfall in eastern Mexico early this morning as a tropical storm. Flooding rainfall is the main impact from this short-lived system which will dissipate later today.
(MORE: What Is An Invest?)
MORE ON WEATHER.COM
- Why Hurricane Season's More Active Phase May Arrive Earlier
- How To Prepare For Hurricane Season
- What's Been Deadliest In US Hurricanes, Tropical Storms Lately May Surprise You
