Hurricane Beryl became the earliest Atlantic Category 5 overnight after hammering the Windard Islands Monday.
It’s a threat to Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula this week.
It’s still too soon to tell where it will track in the southwest Gulf of Mexico this weekend.
Hurricane Beryl became the earliest Atlantic Category 5 on record overnight following a historic Windward Islands landfall earlier Monday. It’s not done yet, with Beryl likely to spread its impacts across Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and the Yucatan Peninsula before facing an uncertain future in the Gulf of Mexico.
Beryl is the earliest hurricane to reach Category 5 strength on record in the Atlantic, and it beat the previous record by more than two weeks. The previous earliest Category 5 was Hurricane Emily on July 16 during the hyperactive 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Record warm water temperature have likely catapulted Beryl’s intensity.
