Hurricane Beryl reaches historic Category 5 strength as it moves through Caribbean

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Beryl is now a monster Category 5 hurricane as it continues to move through the Caribbean Tuesday morning. It strengthened even more overnight as it continues to break records across the board.

Hurricane Beryl is the earliest Cat 5 hurricane to develop in the Atlantic basin on record, the strongest July hurricane on record, and the strongest hurricane to make landfall in the Grenadines Islands.

Looking at this storm, it’s stunning. This is about as mature and well-defined as a hurricane would be during the peak of the Atlantic season. This is unprecedented for an early season storm and continues to be so after gaining strength.

Beryl’s eye is solid and this storm is expected to remain an impressive and strong Cat 5 as it moves through the central Caribbean at a very fast pace.

The latest track forecast has nudged slightly more north, with Beryl forecast to track west-northwest at about 20mph.

Next in line for impacts: Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Jamaica could take a direct hit from Hurricane Beryl, or the storm will skirt just to the south of the island. Regardless, hurricane conditions are likely late Tuesday – Wednesday for Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

Then where will Beryl go is the big question? Depending on how it interacts with Jamaica, the storm could start to weaken from the island’s terrain.

The other big factor is stronger vertical wind shear the storm will start to encounter as it nears the Yucatan Peninsula. It is forecast to weaken as it moves through this area of stronger shear.

It is still forecast to remain a hurricane as it crosses the Yucatan, then weaken even more by the time it moves into the Gulf of Mexico.

While there is still room for this to change at the end of this week, the strong ridge of high pressure over the SE will likely block Beryl from turning more NW toward Texas/Louisiana as it moves through the Gulf.

The steering flow is pretty solid and should keep Beryl well away from Florida and the Gulf states. This is still several days out – check back here for the latest.