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.
More concerning for many, though, is its cause: Beryl is being fed by waters in the mid-80s Fahrenheit, almost 4 degrees higher than normal and equal to the kind of temperatures usually seen at the peak of the hurricane season in September. Those record temperatures, defying existing models, are forcing scientists to reexamine their basic understanding of global warming and its likely trajectory.
Beryl made landfall Monday in the Grenadian islands of Carriacou and Petite Martinique, still officially a Category 4 storm. “In half an hour, Carriacou was flattened,” Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell said. At least one person was killed, but officials said they would have to wait until the storm had passed entirely before sending up drones to capture the extent of the damage.
“Beryl is now a potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane,” the U.S. National Hurricane Center said, warning that it would bring life-threatening winds and a storm surge toColorado State University hurricane researcher Phil Klotzbach told AP Beryl was “a harbinger potentially of more interesting stuff coming down the pike.”