Hurricane Beryl continued to strengthen Monday night after sweeping through the eastern Caribbean Islands, producing increasingly catastrophic winds and becoming the earliest Category 5 storm ever recorded in the Atlantic basin.
Beryl was producing sustained winds of 160 mph Monday night as it continued west-northwest through the Caribbean Sea, hurricane specialist Philippe Papin said in an 11 p.m. update for the National Hurricane Center.
The storm is expected to remain powerful as it heads for Jamaica, where a hurricane warning is in effect. Heavy rains and flash flooding are possible in Jamaica starting Wednesday, Papin said. A tropical storm warning is also in effect for the south coast of Hispaniola and forecasters encouraged those with interests in the Cayman Islands, Belize, the Yucatan Peninsula, the remainder of the northwestern Caribbean and the southwestern Gulf of Mexico to monitor Beryl's progress.
Though hurricane forecasters say there is still some uncertainty to Beryl's strength and track five days from now, a strong ridge of high pressure over the south and the Gulf of Mexico is likely to keep the storm south of Louisiana.
Beryl is only the second Cat 5 storm ever to form in July, hurricane specialist Papin said. Hurricane Emily, which formed in early July 2005 before slamming into the Windward Islands, the Yucatan Peninsula and Mexico's Gulf Coast, was the first.
It's not unusual for tropical storms to form early in the season, which begins June 1. But the first hurricane typically forms in August, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with major hurricanes hitting late that month.
Beryl has already had a record-breaking journey through the Atlantic.
Arriving three months earlier than usual and transforming into a powerful hurricane in a matter of days, Beryl also made history on Sunday as the first storm to reach Category 4 status in June.
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