Earliest Ever Cat 5 Hurricane Threatens Record Storm Season

Hurricane Beryl has been upgraded to a “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 storm as it rolls through the southeastern Caribbean, leaving a trail of destruction and raising fears that this year’s Atlantic hurricane season could be one of the worst ever.

Fueled by high ocean temperatures, Beryl had set a number of records before even making landfall in Grenada on Monday with 160mph winds: as the earliest Category 4 Atlantic storm, the earliest Category 5, and only the second ever declared in July.