Early and Angry: Hurricane Beryl Forms Quickly in the SE Caribbean
I was going to talk about fun events for July in San Pedro – the Lobster Festival kicking off tomorrow and the Big International Music Festival at the end of the month – but, despite my expertise in the art of denial, it’s hard to ignore Hurricane Beryl.
Especially when my boyfriend spends a large percentage of his tropical storm season month (especially August to October) glued to the weather services.
Beryl is just…crazy. She entered the SE Caribbean and intensified at crazy speeds. The craziest part? It IS JUNE. Ridiculously early in the season for a storm like this…in this part of the Caribbean…forming this quickly. Crazy. But the weather – even in my 17 years in Belize – has shifted quite a bit…
And what kind of name is Beryl anyway? It’s like a mouth full of marbles.
But this is still crazy. We are starting to think preparation plans. We have 2 camps – one in progress and under construction, one that have guests coming in tomorrow – we have a boat – and a house. And pets in three different locales.
You will find that people that have lived here a while will prepare for the worst and pray for the best. There are no hurricane parties. Ambergris Caye sits at or below sea level – some buildings feet from the ocean. We are thinking (hoping) that it will go to the north but it’s time to start the preparations.
If you are visiting that week, keep in contact with your hotel/lodging. People here will take this seriously and give advice accordingly! But remember, the storm is still 4-5 days away.
Here, again, are some of the sites I look at for forecasts and predictions.
The National Hurricane Center – most current posting. Predictions for this area would be Thursday night into Friday. (The cone is down to the north of Honduras/Roatan to the tip of Cuba now – so quite wide)
Wunderground: Has a more interactive map – so you can zoom in and out…
Levi of Tropical Tidbits does a great job with videos – and really talking you thru the possibilities. Wind shears, fronts…this is Jeff’s favorite site. Levi’s voice is the sound of late summer in our house.
Jeff also likes the articles and comment sections in Jeff Master’s Yale Climate Connections. These nerds 😉 can really get into it!
Mike’s Spaghetti Models is one ugly website but it does a good job compiling it all!
Be safe everyone.
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Thanks for the info! My daughter is currently at her condo with friends scheduled to leave Tuesday and other arriving the same day. She sent video yesterday and said they’re preparing for a wild ride.
Hoping it is nothing but a beautiful day! But definitely time to prepare. Be safe!
Howdy folks, Mr. Knowitall here from California to help you guys make an intelligent decision regarding Beryl. As you already know, our esteemed President (no not Sleepy Joe, the previous one, with the orange face), proved to be quite the medical expert with his advice on eradicating COVID19 – drink the k̶o̶o̶l̶-̶a̶i̶d̶ bleach, kids. But he had another great idea, too. In a room full of top government officials and meteorologists he suggested that to stop a hurricane “we should drop a nuclear bomb in the eye of it, it disrupts it”. So yeah, that’s what I suggest, as Beryl gets close to the reef, just nuke that sucker…
Very helpful 🤬
Leaving Tuesday to arrive in Belize on Wednesday morning
Please check with your hotel/lodging. She is quite far away but overnight models had her moving our way.
Wow we have a trip planned arriving thursday through monday. Would you still come? Should we cancel?
DEFINITELY contact your hotel – they may suggest that you do cancel. I think, by tomorrow, we will know for sure – but the path turned a bit southward last night (in our direction)
Hotels canceled our trip. Looking forward to updates with how the island fares. Stay safe, wishing where were all sipping on cocktails this weekend 🙁
Oh man…where we you guys staying?
I’m in the U.S. and thankfully won’t be back until August. I am not a “know it all”, (I understand humor though) but I can see that San Pedro is in the center of Beryl’s cone path this Monday morning. I have prepared homes professionally for storms and know some of the issues that can be involved. TODAY is a good day to prepare, sometimes it takes longer than we think to do things as we can run into problems and discover additional work that needs to be done. Please take it serious and don’t hesitate! I am praying for everyone’s safety
We are in full prep mode right now!
Praying for the safety of our friends in San Pedro!
Thku!! We have a place on the south end reef/east side. I pray all are safe! “Stuff” can be replaced, people cannot.
Things looking better this morning but still high alert on the island!
Esain Yanover