Hurricane Beryl thrashed Jamaica with heavy rainfall and destructive winds on Wednesday, July 3, 2024. It killed at least one person after forging a destructive, water-soaked path across smaller Caribbean islands over the past couple days. The storm is one of the strongest to impact Jamaica in more than 15 years.
Hurricane Beryl became the strongest hurricane to form in July and the earliest category 5 storm ever observed in the North Atlantic Ocean. Storms with wind speeds in excess of 252 kilometres per hour are classified as category 5. Beryl has undergone multiple rounds of rapid intensification, showing what oceanic warming can do to hurricanes and other tropical cyclones. A hurricane is said to undergo rapid intensification when it gains wind speeds of 56 km/hr or more in a span of 24 hours. Hurricanes in the North Atlantic usually don’t get so intense so early in the season. The hurricane season in the North Atlantic Ocean begins in June and lasts until November, with the strongest hurricanes developing later in the season after the sea surface has warmed sufficiently, in August or September.
In Jamaica, emergency crews evacuated people living in flood-prone communities and nearly 500 people were in shelters by July 3 afternoon, according to Prime Minister Andrew Holness. Power outages were widespread across Jamaica, while some roads near the coast were washed out. Other neighbouring countries, including Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Belize and the Cayman Islands, have been put on alert. The storm may also hit Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula later this week.
Low vertical wind shear, a warm North Atlantic Ocean, weak trade winds and the anticipated La Niña were cited as the reasons by the NOAA for an above normal hurricane season in 2024. Hurricane Beryl seems to be leading the way towards a record-breaking hurricane season.