Hurricane Beryl rapidly intensified into a “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 storm over the eastern Caribbean as it churned toward Jamaica on Monday night.
Why it matters: The storm that earlier made landfall on Grenada’s Carriacou Island as a Category 4 hurricane is the earliest Category 5 storm in the Atlantic on record and it’s killed at least one person as of early Tuesday. It continued to intensify Tuesday morning.
- Hurricane Beryl, which formed Saturday evening and rapidly intensified into a major Category 4 storm Sunday, is the strongest hurricane on record to hit the southern Windward Island at any time of year.
- Its early formation, rapid intensification and location are all record-breaking.
- It is also the strongest storm on record for July, eclipsing the previous Category 5 storm’s maximum sustained winds.
Threat level: Beryl brought “Catastrophic winds and life-threatening storm surge” to the southern Windward Islands, the National Hurricane Center stated.
