Hurricane Beryl has been upgraded to a “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 storm as it rolls through the southeastern Caribbean, leaving a trail of destruction and raising fears that this year’s Atlantic hurricane season could be one of the worst ever.
Fueled by high ocean temperatures, Beryl had set a number of records before even making landfall in Grenada on Monday with 160mph winds: as the earliest Category 4 Atlantic storm, the earliest Category 5, and only the second ever declared in July. It is also one of the the fastest-developing storms on record, taking just 48 hours to go from unnamed depression to hurricane force.
Its speed and force have shocked meteorologists, who are already predicting twice as many storms as usual for this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, which officially runs from June 1 to November 30.
