Hurricane Beryl, a deadly threat to the Caribbean and a cause for scientific concern

Hurricane Beryl has Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic on alert this week after leaving at least four dead and destruction in the Eastern Caribbean. It is worrying the scientific community because of the speed of its formation and its ability to reach the greatest power a cyclone can have, Category 5.

Beryl It has already caused at least four deaths: three in Grenada and one in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, but according to authorities there could be more fatalities on these islands and others such as Cariobacú, where it made landfall on Monday as a Category 4 hurricane.

The cyclone, the first of the Atlantic hurricane season, has also caused significant destruction to buildings, roads and vessels in several countries of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), which suspended its annual meeting.

Meteorologist José Manuel Galvez told EFE that in recent years a process known as “rapid intensification” of these tropical systems, which “tends to prevail.”

When the sea is warmer, among many other variables, there tends to be a greater recurrence of these processes, explained the researcher from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Beryl It surprised the small archipelagos of the Eastern Caribbean with its rapid formation and ability to gain power, which according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a “alarming precedent”.

The UN meteorological agency stressed on Tuesday that, since records began, a hurricane of maximum intensity had never formed in the Atlantic at this time of year.

Three named tropical storms have already formed during the current Atlantic season, which runs from June 1 to November 30: Alberto, Beryl and Chris, the latter of which also developed rapidly and caused havoc in Mexico.

For the WMO, the arrival of Beryl With this force two weeks earlier than usual it could be the advance of “a very active season with risks for the entire Atlantic basin”.

Beryl It reached Category 5 (the maximum on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which measures cyclones by their winds), according to the United States National Hurricane Center (NHC).

The NHC expects Beryl to gradually weaken by midweek, although it will still have hurricane-force winds, which have already caused damage, mainly in Grenada and its sister island of Caribou, as well as in Barbados and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

Beryl’s advance to the west

Beryl remains a Category 5 hurricane, according to the latest NHC report, with maximum sustained winds of 260 kilometers per hour (160 miles per hour), and threats of storm surge.

The cyclone is located 375 kilometres (235 mi) southeast of Beata Island (Dominican Republic) and 895 kilometres (555 mi) east southeast of Kingston (Jamaica) and is moving rapidly northwest at 35 kilometres per hour (22 mi).

Hurricane warnings include Jamaica – it is expected to pass close to that island on Wednesday – and the following day it will affect the Cayman Islands. They also now include the coast of Haiti from the border with the Dominican Republic to the Haitian town of Anse d’Hainault.

Tropical storm warnings are also in effect for the southern coast of the Dominican Republic, from Punta Palenque west to the border with Haiti.

Forecasters at the Miami-based NHC expect Beryl to remain an extremely dangerous major hurricane as it moves over the eastern Caribbean, with “some weakening“Tuesday night.

This year’s Atlantic hurricane season is set to be well above average, with up to 13 hurricanes possible, including up to seven major hurricanes, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The forecast indicates that a total of between 17 and 25 storms could form this year, that is, with maximum sustained winds above 62 kilometers per hour.