Now a Category 2 storm, storm Beryl is headed over the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico early on Friday and will make landfall on Texas' Gulf coast early the next week.
On Thursday morning, meteorologists issued a warning to people in southern Texas to keep a careful eye on Beryl's approach. By late Friday, the National Hurricane Center predicted that large waves will have moved across most of the US Gulf Coast, resulting in "life-threatening" surf and rip currents.
The likelihood of severe winds, storm surge, and heavy rain in certain areas of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico later this weekend is growing, meteorologists said on Thursday morning.
At least seven people lost their lives on islands in the eastern Caribbean due to Beryl, the storm that broke records by becoming the first in the Atlantic to intensify into a Category 5 hurricane.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Beryl's center will depart the Cayman Islands by Thursday afternoon, and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico will be on its path early on Friday.
Beryl's anticipated cone of probability for early next week includes the southern part of Texas' Gulf coast, including Corpus Christi. Beryl will pass the Yucatan Peninsula, emerge in the southwestern Gulf on Friday night, and then continue northwest over open sea on Saturday.
With maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, Beryl was traveling at a speed of 18 mph west-northwest as of 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. She was located 275 miles east-southeast of Tulum, Mexico, and 135 miles west of Grand Cayman. Up to 30 miles may be reached by hurricane-force winds and up to 160 miles can be reached by tropical storm-force winds from the center.
According to the hurricane center, Beryl will continue to be a hurricane until it makes landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula, even if it further weakened into a Category 2 storm by Thursday afternoon.
Mexico has issued two warnings for the Yucatan Peninsula: one for a hurricane, extending from Puerto Costa Maya, close to the Belizean border, north to Cancun, and another for a tropical storm, extending from Cabo Catoche to Progresso.
Beryl is likely to weaken into a tropical storm on Friday night and continue over the weekend as it moves across the Gulf of Mexico, but by Monday morning, when it approaches the northern Gulf coast of Mexico, close to the Texas border, it is predicted to have strengthened again into a hurricane.
The NHC said that later on Thursday and into Friday, there may be up to 10 inches of rain in certain places, with storm surges of three to five feet on the Yucatan Peninsula's eastern coast and one to three feet on its western coast. We may anticipate some isolated flash floods.
The Cayman Islands may see between two and four feet of storm surge and four to six inches of rain on Thursday, even though hurricane and tropical storm conditions will pass over in certain areas by Thursday afternoon.
Beryl's eye wall earlier this week passed close to Jamaica's southern shore on a Wednesday afternoon, tearing off roofs and cutting out electricity. Jamaica has not seen the "worst of what could possibly happen," according to Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
The government's Information Service said that fallen trees and utility poles affected many roads in Jamaica's interior towns and that several villages in the northern region were without power.
A few hours before to Hurricane Beryl's arrival, Jamaica was designated a disaster area and placed under state of emergency. The proclamation of a disaster zone will stand, according to Holness, for the next seven days.
Perhaps the worst happened earlier in Beryl's path when it collided with two tiny Lesser Antilles islands.
Approximately 95% of the residences on Mayreau and Union Island have sustained damage from Hurricane Beryl, according to Michelle Forbes, the National Emergency Management Organization's director for St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
On Thursday morning, meteorologists issued a warning to people in southern Texas to keep a careful eye on Beryl's approach. By late Friday, the National Hurricane Center predicted that large waves will have moved across most of the US Gulf Coast, resulting in "life-threatening" surf and rip currents.
The likelihood of severe winds, storm surge, and heavy rain in certain areas of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico later this weekend is growing, meteorologists said on Thursday morning.
At least seven people lost their lives on islands in the eastern Caribbean due to Beryl, the storm that broke records by becoming the first in the Atlantic to intensify into a Category 5 hurricane.
According to the National Hurricane Center, Beryl's center will depart the Cayman Islands by Thursday afternoon, and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico will be on its path early on Friday.
Beryl's anticipated cone of probability for early next week includes the southern part of Texas' Gulf coast, including Corpus Christi. Beryl will pass the Yucatan Peninsula, emerge in the southwestern Gulf on Friday night, and then continue northwest over open sea on Saturday.
With maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, Beryl was traveling at a speed of 18 mph west-northwest as of 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. She was located 275 miles east-southeast of Tulum, Mexico, and 135 miles west of Grand Cayman. Up to 30 miles may be reached by hurricane-force winds and up to 160 miles can be reached by tropical storm-force winds from the center.
According to the hurricane center, Beryl will continue to be a hurricane until it makes landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula, even if it further weakened into a Category 2 storm by Thursday afternoon.
Mexico has issued two warnings for the Yucatan Peninsula: one for a hurricane, extending from Puerto Costa Maya, close to the Belizean border, north to Cancun, and another for a tropical storm, extending from Cabo Catoche to Progresso.
Beryl is likely to weaken into a tropical storm on Friday night and continue over the weekend as it moves across the Gulf of Mexico, but by Monday morning, when it approaches the northern Gulf coast of Mexico, close to the Texas border, it is predicted to have strengthened again into a hurricane.
The NHC said that later on Thursday and into Friday, there may be up to 10 inches of rain in certain places, with storm surges of three to five feet on the Yucatan Peninsula's eastern coast and one to three feet on its western coast. We may anticipate some isolated flash floods.
The Cayman Islands may see between two and four feet of storm surge and four to six inches of rain on Thursday, even though hurricane and tropical storm conditions will pass over in certain areas by Thursday afternoon.
Beryl's eye wall earlier this week passed close to Jamaica's southern shore on a Wednesday afternoon, tearing off roofs and cutting out electricity. Jamaica has not seen the "worst of what could possibly happen," according to Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
The government's Information Service said that fallen trees and utility poles affected many roads in Jamaica's interior towns and that several villages in the northern region were without power.
A few hours before to Hurricane Beryl's arrival, Jamaica was designated a disaster area and placed under state of emergency. The proclamation of a disaster zone will stand, according to Holness, for the next seven days.
Perhaps the worst happened earlier in Beryl's path when it collided with two tiny Lesser Antilles islands.
Approximately 95% of the residences on Mayreau and Union Island have sustained damage from Hurricane Beryl, according to Michelle Forbes, the National Emergency Management Organization's director for St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
