Beryl hit the Cayman Islands on Thursday and landed on the Yucatan Peninsula this Friday morning. We expect it to go out into the Gulf and make its final landfall in the U.S.

After passing through Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, Beryl was downgraded to a category 2 hurricane, but on Thursday night it again grew to a category 3 hurricane just before sharp wind shear again took it to category 2 just before touching Mexican soil, just northeast of Tulum.

The hurricane will continue to hit the Yucatan Peninsula this Friday and is expected to emerge over the Gulf of Mexico early Saturday. As it passes over the north of the Peninsula it will be battling friction which will degrade it to a tropical storm by the end of Friday.

Beryl will spend the entire weekend traveling northwest toward South Texas. As it travels through the warm Gulf of Mexico, conditions will become more suitable for it to strengthen again. It is forecast to reach southern Texas as a hurricane. The extreme northeast of Mexico will also be dealing with heavy rains and hurricane-force winds. However, the strongest and most direct impact is expected for the Rio Grande Valley to Corpus Christi.

Storm surge will also be quite significant. As I mentioned on Wednesday, Beryl will be growing in size and the rotation of the storm will be pushing large amounts of water to the Texas coast and possibly western Louisiana. Please take precautionary measures if you live on the coast and know that the impacts will reach further outside the cone of uncertainty, due to the size of the storm.

We are closely monitoring this storm, its trajectory, and its impacts. It is still possible that there will be some adjustments to the trajectory. We will bring you updates, make sure you have your alerts on.