Hurricane Beryl Sustained winds reach Category 4 strength in the Caribbean on Monday 150 miles per hour, putting the islands of Barbados, Grenada, Tobago, St. Vincent and the Grenadines in danger. This marks the earliest point in the season on record when a hurricane occurs Reaches Category 4 strength.
Beryl is set to move westward across the Caribbean Sea toward Jamaica in the coming days, bringing life-threatening rain and winds. The storm is expected to weaken as it reaches Mexico over the weekend.
As unprecedented as the storm may be, it matches what scientists have been predicting.
The Atlantic Ocean has been gathering the raw materials for an exciting hurricane season for months and is now assembling them into a major storm. Beryl is Atlantic’s first major project in 2024.
Sea surface temperature is the basis of hurricanes. There needs to be water around 80 degrees Fahrenheit or warm Normally, the amount of warm water needed to power a major hurricane doesn’t accumulate until late summer, but the Atlantic Ocean absorbed a lot of heat last year as the planet warmed to its highest average temperature on record.
The other main component of a hurricane is air over water. Hurricanes thrive when there is minimal wind shear, a phenomenon where winds push in different directions as altitude changes. They also rely on low stability in temperature and humidity levels in the atmosphere. “Weak stability (density not changing much with height) allows moist air near the surface to be easily transported up into the atmosphere where it can form cumulus clouds that produce heavy precipitation,” said Michael McFaddena hurricane researcher at NOAA, in an email.
This year, the transition from El Niño to La Niña in the Pacific is driving more of these hurricane-friendly atmospheric conditions over the Atlantic. That’s why forecasters have been warning since May that this summer will bring one Hurricane season is above normalSeven major hurricanes are Category 3 or higher.
Beryl also stands out because of how fast she is gathered strength. Meteorologists describe this characteristic as rapid intensification, where a hurricane’s wind speed increases to at least 35 miles per hour within 24 hours. Beryl picked up 65 mph between Saturday and Sunday, though nowhere near as fast as Hurricane Otis, which reached nearly 100 mph in 12 hours last year.
All the time, the climate changes and The most destructive element is to make something worse Warmer temperatures from hurricanes are raising sea levels, so when tropical storms make landfall, they push more water inland. Warmer air holds more moisture, so storms cause more rain. Hot water leads to more rapid intensification.
More people are living in hurricane-prone areas, so more lives and property are at risk as these storms grow.
However, people living in some of the most vulnerable areas are taking steps to prepare for future hurricanes. In particular, Caribbean countries are investing in disaster early warning systems that can detect developing storms and warn residents to evacuate or take shelter. Caribbean warning system adopted $7 million in funding from the United Nations in May to upgrade disaster warning and response across countries in the region. It’s part of the United Nations’ larger $3.1 billion push to ensure that all people on Earth are protected. Disaster early warning system by the end of 2027.
But caution is only the first step. People receiving warnings need to be able to act on them. On small, resource-poor islands, routes to safety are few and fragile. And Beryl’s threat may not end once the storm passes.
Delivering relief to distressed countries could be a challenge, and the loss of Beryl could make the Caribbean more vulnerable to the next hurricane.
