Category 5 Beryl aims for Jamaica; two dead because of storm

Despite making landfall on Monday, Hurricane Beryl continues to strengthen Tuesday morning, hours after attaining Category 5 status.

As of the National Hurricane Center's 7 a.m. CDT update, Beryl has maximum sustained winds of 165 miles per hour. The storm reached Category 5 status late Monday night, hours after making its intial landfall as a Category 4 storm on Carriacou Island in Grenada. Already, Beryl is responsible for two deaths, one in Grenada and another in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, says 90 percent of the the homes on Union Island were destroyed. He noted similar levels of devastation on two other of his country's islands, Myreau and Canouan.

Now, Beryl is headed for Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. The storm will brush those islands, with Jamaica experiencing hurricane conditions beginning on Wednesday, and the Caymans feeling hurricane winds on Thursday. Jamaica is under a hurricane warning, while Grand Cayman, Little Cayman, and Cayman Brac are under hurricane watches. Haiti and the Dominican Republic are under tropical storm warnings.

The National Hurricane Center's forecasters say Beryl should weaken, but they add that the intensity forecast is uncertain.

"Model guidance all indicates that the hurricane will begin to weaken later today as Beryl encounters moderate-to-strong vertical wind shear," National Hurricane Center meteorologists said in their public forecast discussion. "Later on, factors such as the possible interaction with the Jamaican
elevated terrain, dry air intrusions, and the structure of the vertical wind shear will all play a role in the rate of weakening.  The models show quite a wide range of solutions, with guidance between a strong tropical storm to a major hurricane while it nears the Yucatan Peninsula."

Also uncertain, forecasters say, is the forecast track.

"A strong subtropical ridge centered over the southern United States will continue to steer Beryl west-northwestward to westward across the central and northwestern Caribbean for the next few days," NHC meteorologists said in the discussion. "The latest track forecast has been nudged slightly to the north and lies closest to the corrected consensus aid.  There is still increased uncertainty in the track forecast beyond 72 (hours), with the model guidance showing a large spread as Beryl emerges over the Gulf of Mexico.

"The NHC forecast lies in the middle of the aids, showing Beryl as a major hurricane near Jamaica, reaching Yucatan as a hurricane in about 72 (hours) before emerging as a tropical storm over the Gulf of Mexico," meteorologists added. "This is quite an uncertain forecast beyond a couple of days due to the aforementioned factors."