Hurricanes are more intense and exploding more quickly. Brian Tang explains why
Hurricane Beryl was the latest Atlantic storm to rapidly intensify, growing quickly from a tropical storm into the strongest June hurricane on record in the Atlantic. It hit the Grenadine Islands with 240km/h (150mph) winds and a destructive storm surge on 1 July then continued to intensify into the basin’s earliest Category 5 storm on record.
Beryl was still a powerful Category 4 hurricane on 3 July when its eyewall brushed the coast of Jamaica and headed toward the Cayman Islands. A large part of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula was under a hurricane warning.
The damage Beryl caused, particularly on Carriacou and Petite Martinique, was extensive, Grenada Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell told a news briefing. “In half an hour, Carriacou was flattened.”
Beryl’s strength and rapid intensification were unusual for a storm so early in the season. This year, that is especially alarming as forecasters expect an exceptionally active Atlantic hurricane season.
What causes hurricanes to rapidly intensify,...
