HOUSTON — The 2024 Atlantic Hurricane Season was promised to be an active one, with Colorado State University and NOAA predicting well above normal numbers. In fact, the NOAA forecast for the season was the most aggressive forecast ever produced. Several factors including record warm sea-surface temperatures and a transition to La Nina by late summer were the driving factors in these aggressive forecasts. However, Hurricane Beryl is already shattering records before the peak of the season arrives.
Beryl sets records
In the short life-span of this storm here are some of the notable records the storm has already set:
- Easternmost forming June hurricane on record
- 1st and only Category 4 hurricane in June on record
- Earliest forming Category 5 hurricane in a calendar year on record
- Largest rapid intensification period in June
- 3rd earliest major hurricane in a calendar year (behind ALMA 1966, AUDREY 1957)
- 2nd-southernmost forming major hurricane on record at 10.8°N (behind IVAN 2004 10.2°N)
- 3rd major hurricane on record in June (others are AUDREY 1957, ALMA 1966)
- 3rd hurricane on record to come within 100 miles of Barbados before August (others are EMILY 2005, ELSA 2021)
- Only Category 4 hurricane ever recorded before the Fourth of July
- Strongest hurricane to ever pass through the Windward Islands, at 150 mph (beating ALLEN 1980's 130 mph)
- Strongest hurricane in the east Caribbean since MARIA 2017
- 2nd Category 5 hurricane ever recorded in the month of July (other is EMILY 2005)
- 3rd-southernmost forming Category 5 on record
- 3rd-most intense July hurricane on record at 935 mb (behind EMILY 2005 at 929 mb and DENNIS 2005 at 930 mb)
- Strongest July hurricane on record at 165 mph (beating EMILY 2005 at 160 mph)
- 4th least intense Category 5 hurricane on record at 935 mb
Currently, the forecast track shows Beryl weakening as it interacts with higher wind shear in the northwest Caribbean. Questions remain as to where the storm ends up next week. For now, the official forecast from the National Hurricane Center takes the storm toward either northern Mexico or South Texas.
More Hurricane Beryl headlines:
- Beryl update: See the latest track
- 3 factors will determine if Beryl comes to Texas
- Beryl roars toward Jamaica as a major hurricane after ripping through southeast Caribbean
- Photos and video from areas in Caribbean affected by Hurricane Beryl
- KHOU 11 Chief Meteorologist David Paul on what Texans should be considering with Hurricane Beryl
