Hurricane Beryl (/ˈbɛrɪl/, BEHR-ril) was an extremely rare and destructive tropical cyclone that impacted parts of the Caribbean, the Yucatán Peninsula, and the Gulf Coast of the United States in late June and early July 2024. The second named storm, first hurricane, first major hurricane, and first Category 5 hurricane of the extremely active 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, the system broke many meteorological records, primarily for formation and intensity. Beryl was one of only two Atlantic hurricanes to reach Category 5 hurricane status in July, along with Emily in 2005. Beryl was both the earliest-forming Category 4 and Category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic Ocean, and the strongest hurricane to develop within the Main Development Region (MDR) of the Atlantic before the month of July.
Beryl developed from a tropical wave that left the coast of Africa on June 25. After forming on June 28 in the Main Development Region, it began rapidly intensifying as it moved west through the central tropical Atlantic. On July 1, Beryl made landfall on the island of Carriacou, Grenada, as a Category 4 hurricane, causing significant damage. The hurricane intensified further as it entered the Caribbean Sea, peaking as a Category 5 hurricane early the next morning with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph (270 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 932 mbar (27.52 inHg), before slowly weakening over the next few days due to wind shear as it passed south of Jamaica and then the Cayman Islands. It briefly re-intensified into a Category 3 hurricane before weakening again as it made landfall in Tulum, Quintana Roo, as a high-end Category 1 hurricane on July 5. After weakening into a tropical storm over the Yucatán Peninsula, the system moved into the Gulf of Mexico, where it gradually reorganized into a Category 1 hurricane on July 8, just before making its final landfall near Matagorda, Texas. Beryl slowly weakened over land as it accelerated to the northeast, eventually becoming post-tropical over the state of Arkansas on July 9 and dissipating over Ontario on July 11.