Hurricane Beryl's 75 mph Windspeed Gain In 36 Hours Never Seen In June Hurricane, Only Twice In July
Hurricane Beryl is now a 120-mph Category 3 monster, a day after it was a tropical storm with 60-mph winds. The storm rapidly intensified at a rate unprecedented for June, and it’s en route to the Lesser Antilles, an island chain on the eastern side of the Caribbean Sea, and the National Hurricane Center is warning of “life-threatening” impact.
Hurricane warnings have been issued for Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadine Islands, Grenada and Tobago, while a tropical storm warning covers Martinique. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley urged caution in a Saturday update, saying “we have to remain vigilant over the course of the time between now and when it passes” on Monday. The hurricane center staff warned of “potentially catastrophic hurricane-force winds” and flooding. “All preparations should be rushed to completion today,” the hurricane center posted at 11 a.m. Sunday. Forecasters expect Beryl to move across the Caribbean Sea and toward the northwestern Caribbean, affecting: the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.
It’s one of three systems to watch in the Atlantic Ocean. A second tropical wave in its wake is poised to develop, and could hit the beleaguered Lesser Antilles as a tropical storm or hurricane later this week. There’s also a tropical disturbance soaking Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Experts have been warning for months that the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season could be one for the record books. Unfortunately, the season is already off to the races. Anomalously warm water temperatures, combined with favorably weak upper-level winds stemming from a burgeoning La Niña weather pattern, are culminating in a setup very favorable for Atlantic storms.
As of 11 a.m. Eastern time, Beryl was about 350 miles east-southeast of Barbados and was moving due west at 21 mph. Maximum sustained winds were listed at 115 mph. In the storm’s center, about 5 percent of the atmosphere’s air pressure, or ambient mass, was missing — that’s why there’s such powerful inward suction, and fierce winds, spiraling air into the storm. It’s akin to an atmospheric sink drain. There are also signs of the storm’s ferocity — and that further intensification is possible: Thunderstorm clouds ascend to 50,000 feet as they orbit a cleared-out, hollow eye. High, wispy cirrus clouds can also be seen fanning away from the storm at high altitudes. That means it has high-altitude exhaust and is evacuating “spent” air at the upper levels. The more air that exits the storm from above, the more warm, moist air that can enter the storm from below, helping it strengthen.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/06/30/hurricane-beryl-path-caribbean-impacts/
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