Hurricane Beryl maps show path and landfall forecast
Hurricane Beryl was moving toward Mexico as a Category 3 storm early Friday after blowing past the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. It made landfall Monday on the island of Carriacou in Grenada while tearing through the Caribbean, strengthening at times to a Category 5 storm — the strongest rating.
What's the projected path of Hurricane Beryl?
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the center of Beryl was expected to make landfall on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula Friday morning.
After passing over the Yucatan, Beryl was expected to emerge in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday night "and move northwestward toward northeastern Mexico and southern Texas by the end of the weekend," the hurricane center said.
Beryl's center early Friday was about 90 miles east-southeast of the resort town of Tulum, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph, the hurricane center said. It was moving west at 16 mph.
A hurricane is considered major when it's a Category 3 or higher, with winds of at least 111 mph.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the Yucatan Peninsula from Puerto Costa Maya north to Cancun.
Will Hurricane Beryl hit Texas?
CBS affiliate KHOU-TV reported that whether Beryl crashes into Texas depends on how much strength it loses as it goes over land, as well as conditions in the Gulf of Mexico in the coming days.
One key factor will be how wind shear affects Beryl.
"Will Beryl maintain a Cat. 1 hurricane strength as it makes landfall in the Yucatan?" KHOU-TV meteorologist Kim Castro asked. "Or will the unfavorable conditions -- more sheared winds in the Caribbean -- help weaken it enough that it's not much of anything when it gets to the Gulf."
The hurricane center urged people in southern Texas to monitor Beryl's progress.
Where is Hurricane Beryl bringing rain and flooding?
Beryl was forecast to bring hurricane-force winds, dangerous storm surge and damaging waves to the Yucatan Peninsula.
"Beryl is expected to produce rainfall totals of 4 to 6 inches, with localized amounts of 10 inches, through Friday across the Yucatan Peninsula," the hurricane center said. "Scattered instances of flash flooding are anticipated across the Yucatan Peninsula.
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 and then becoming a Category 5 later Monday night. 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 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.
Beryl was also the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin and was only the second Category 5 storm recorded in July since 2005, according to the hurricane center.
— Brian Dakss, Alex Sundby and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
