Hurricane Beryl managed to maintain its status as a Category 4 storm on Wednesday as it began to pass by the coast of Jamaica, bringing life-threatening conditions to the island as it heads towards the Yucatan Peninsula, forecasters with the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
As of 4 p.m. CST, Beryl had a maximum sustained wind speed of 140 mph and was moving by the southern coast of Jamaica. Forecasts showed the the storm's northern eye wall, with its most destructive winds, brushing over the shoreline.
Though the storm had weakened overnight from record-breaking Category 5 storm, forecasters said Wednesday its core was making a bit of a comeback and the storm's eye was once again becoming better defined.
“While westerly shear continues to affect Beryl, the central core of the hurricane has made a bit of a comeback this afternoon with the eye becoming better defined in Cuban radar data and re-appearing in satellite imagery,” said Senior Hurricane Specialist Jack Beven in a 4 p.m. discussion message.
Hurricane forecasters say Beryl is expected to make landfall as a hurricane over the Yucatan Peninsula in the next few days. It's then expected to weaken into a tropical storm but restrengthen over the Gulf of Mexico.
Forecasters still warn that forecasts concerning Beryl's track and intensity over the western Gulf are uncertain, but current models show the storm making landfall again in northern Mexico or southern Texas on Sunday afternoon.
A mid-level ridge of high pressure over the southeastern United States, which is causing extreme heat warnings across much of the Gulf Coast, is expected to continue steering Beryl west-northwest.
Beryl heads towards Yucatan Peninsula
Over the next few hours, Beryl is expected to continue bringing damaging winds and life-threatening storm surge to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and cause significant mudslides in Jamaica and Haiti through Wednesday.
As it moves west, the storm should experience westerly wind shear, likely weakening it.
In the next 24-48 hours, Beryl is expected to reach the Yucatan Peninsula and make landfall as a hurricane.
Hurricane conditions are expected to reach areas of the Yucatan and Belize by Thursday night, and hurricane and tropical storm warnings have been issued for those areas.
After landfall, the storm is expected to weaken into a tropical storm before emerging over the Gulf on Saturday.
Beryl's track in the Gulf
The warm waters of the Gulf are expected to strengthen the system back into a hurricane as it moves west or northwest.
For now, the National Hurricane Center's cone shows the storm making landfall somewhere on the northern Mexico or southern Texas coast on Sunday afternoon.
People who live in Mexico, Texas and Louisiana should continue to monitor Beryl's movements at hurricanes.gov.