NEW ORLEANS — Hurricane Beryl has set many records in its short life span, including being the earliest ever category-5 hurricane.
Beryl strengthened to a higher category than the experts had planned and it did so much more quickly than forecast.
At least six people have died after Beryl slammed islands in the southeast Caribbean. The storm also lashed Grenada before slamming into the Yucatan on Friday.
Beryl has weakened some but is still considered a potential category-1 hurricane, perhaps stronger, at landfall. The current forecast is for it to slowly strengthen in the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm but re-strengthen into at least a category-1 hurricane before making another landfall in Texas.
Impacts could be felt along the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana.
WWL Louisiana has a Hurricane Beryl tracker that has continuous updates of the official storm track, models and live radar.
Late Monday, Beryl became the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic and peaked at winds of 165 mph (270 kph) Tuesday before weakening to a still-destructive Category 4. Early Wednesday, the storm was about 250 miles (400 kilometers) east-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica. It had top winds of 145 mph (230 kph) and was moving west-northwest at 22 mph (35 kph), the center said.