Hurricane Beryl maps show path and landfall forecast
Hurricane Beryl made landfall again Friday morning over Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said, after blowing past the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. It initially made landfall Monday over the island of Carriacou in Grenada while tearing through the Caribbean, strengthening at times to a Category 5 storm — the strongest rating.
What's Hurricane Beryl's projected path?
The hurricane center in Miami said Friday's landfall was just northeast of the resort town of Tulum.
After passing over the Yucatan, Beryl was expected to "emerge over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico tonight and then move ... toward northeastern Mexico and southern Texas by the end of the weekend," the hurricane center said.
"Rapid weakening is expected after Beryl moves inland and crosses the Yucatan Peninsula, but slow re-intensification is expected once Beryl moves back over the Gulf of Mexico," the center noted.
"Heavy rainfall of 4 to 8 inches with locally higher amounts is expected across portions of northeastern Mexico and South Texas by Sunday into the coming week," the center said.
Beryl's center after landfall was five miles northeast of Tulum. It was traveling west-northwest at 15 mph with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, making it a Category 2 storm, a mile per hour less than the 111 needed to make it a Category 3 and hence be considered a major hurricane.
A hurricane warning was in effect for the Mexican Yucatan coast from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancun, including Cozumel.
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 dangerous hurricane-force winds, 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.
