Hurricane Beryl maps show path and landfall forecast
Hurricane Beryl made landfall Monday as an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 on the Caribbean island of Carriacou in Grenada as it swirled through the southeast Caribbean, bringing fierce winds and torrential rains.
"Life-threatening winds and dangerous storm surge are occurring," the National Hurricane Center warned.
Beryl became the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season on Saturday and rapidly strengthened. It first reached Category 4 on Sunday, wavering back to Category 3 before returning to Category 4 on Monday. It is the first major hurricane east of the Lesser Antilles on record for June, according to Philip Klotzbach, Colorado State University hurricane researcher.
Brian McNoldy, a tropical meteorology researcher for the University of Miami, told the Associated Press that warm waters are fueling Beryl, with ocean heat content in the deep Atlantic the highest on record for this time of year.
Beryl has also set records as the first June hurricane ever to hit Category 4, the farthest east a storm has ever hit Category 4, and the first storm before September to go from tropical depression to major hurricane in under 48 hours, CBS News weather producer David Parkinson reported.
Where is Hurricane Beryl headed?
Beryl is expected to move quickly westward over the next several days, according to the hurricane center. Forecasts on Monday showed the center of the storm moving across the southern Windward Islands and anticipated that it would track across the southeastern and central Caribbean Sea from late Monday through Wednesday.
It was forecast to weaken by midweek, but remain a hurricane while heading toward Mexico.
Hurricane warnings were in effect in Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tobago. A hurricane watch was in effect for Jamaica. A tropical storm warning was issued for Martinique, Trinidad and St. Lucia, while a tropical storm watch was issued for Dominica, the south coast of the Dominican Republic from Punta Palenque westward and the south coast of Haiti from the Dominican border to Anse d'Hainault.
As the eye of the hurricane moved over the southern Windward Islands after making landfall, forecasters said the storm was traveling west-northwest near 20 mph and packing maximum sustained winds near 140 mph, with higher gusts. Although fluctuations in strength are likely as it continues on its path, the hurricane center warned that "Beryl is expected to remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane as its core moves through the Windward Islands into the eastern Caribbean."
Where will Hurricane Beryl bring rain and flooding?
Beryl is forecast to drop anywhere from 3 to 6 inches of rain in Barbados and the Windward Islands, and bring a storm surge of 6 to 9 feet above normal tide levels.
St. Vincent is expected to get up to 6 inches of rainfall. Martinique, Grenada, and Dominica are expected to receive 2 to 4 inches of rain. Beryl is expected to bring life-threatening winds and a storm surge to the Windward Islands starting Sunday night.
Beryl is expected to remain south of Jamaica. It is then likely to bring torrential rain to Mexico's Yucatán, and then depending on its path either reemerge over the Bay of Campeche and move towards Texas or die out with catastrophic inland flooding in Mexico next weekend.
— David Parkinson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.