After an over 5,000-mile journey through the Atlantic, the disturbance we began discussing in this newsletter 14 days ago, before it even rolled off Africa, which grew into the strongest June hurricane and earliest Category 5 on record, made its final landing near Matagorda, about 90 miles southwest of Galveston, on the middle Texas coast as an 80 mph Category 1 hurricane before daybreak Monday.
With its landfall on Monday, Beryl became the earliest hurricane to strike the U.S. in a decade (since Hurricane Arthur on July 3rd, 2014) and the first Texas hurricane landfall in nearly 3 years (since Hurricane Nicholas on September 14th, 2021).
Winds gusted to above 80 mph in the Houston metro Monday morning, with gusty winds nearing 90 mph in neighboring Brazoria County.
Flash flood warnings enveloped the Houston-Galveston area as additional heavy rainbands to the north of Beryl’s center trained across locations already having received 3 to 6 inches of rain before dawn. Another 2 to 4 inches is forecast through Monday morning across these areas.
Major flooding is ongoing along the coast as Beryl’s wide winds sweep a storm surge from the Gulf of Mexico and Galveston Bay inland, causing widespread coastal flooding for the middle and upper Texas coasts.
Beryl keeps forecasters on their toes
After its circulation was severely disrupted over Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula on Friday, Beryl’s exposed core was carved out by a surgical shelling of dry air from an upper-level low pressure area pinwheeling out ahead of it over the weekend. The battered tropical storm took most of Sunday to rebuild its hollowed-out core, but by late Sunday had managed to regain hurricane status on final approach to Texas.
Initially expected to threaten either northern Mexico or the lower Texas coast, Beryl’s forecast track underwent significant adjustments farther up the Texas coast beginning Friday and continuing until the 11th hour before landfall as Beryl deviated north and east of earlier forecasts.
Despite concerns for quick strengthening in the 12 to 24 hours leading up to landfall, Beryl maintained a steady strengthening trend through landfall, sparing the vulnerable low-lying coastline of Texas a major Houston-Galveston metro an even stronger strike.
Nevertheless, Beryl was a significant blow Monday, creating widespread wind damage and power outages affecting over a million customers in southeast Texas. Major flooding at the coast and flash flooding inland swamped roads and threatened homes and businesses.
Coastal flooding will continue to rise through the morning high tide and persist through much of the day Monday. Flash flooding will be an ongoing threat across eastern Texas and extending into North Texas – including the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex – as Beryl spreads farther inland.
Beryl topples early season records
Beryl’s longevity and ferocity shattered most early season hurricane records.
· It was the farthest east in the tropical Atlantic a hurricane has formed during the month of June.
· Beryl rapidly strengthened 65 mph in 24 hours – from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane – while over the Atlantic, the fastest rate of strengthening for any June hurricane.
· Beryl was the strongest June hurricane on record.
· Beryl was also the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, eclipsing the previous recordholder, Category 5 Hurricane Emily in 2005, by over two weeks.
· Beryl produced more Accumulated Cyclone Energy or ACE, a measure of a hurricane’s strength and longevity, than any single hurricane on record prior to August (since 1851).
Because of Beryl, overall tropical activity across the Atlantic is the highest on record so far and about where we’d be on average to start September.
Tropical Atlantic taking a much-needed post-Beryl break
After Beryl’s unprecedented early-season cruise through the Caribbean, the tropics are expected to take a breather this week. More seasonal environmental conditions will return, and no tropical development is expected into at least the early part of next week.