Category 4 Beryl Bears Down On Barbados - So Far The Bajan Family Is OK

 Track of Beryl given mid-morning Sunday

                                        Track of Beryl given early Sunday ca. 5 a.m.

Within 3 days Tropical Storm Beryl, then at 50 mph, transformed into a Category 4 hurricane now smacking Barbados from the south. By mid-morning Sunday the Barbados Meteorological Services forecast that by 5 .am. Monday morning the violent storm would pass 73 miles south of the island nation.

 Conversations on a Zoom meeting last night with family there, disclosed both  our nieces were "as prepared as they could be" and had ensured enough food supplies as well as potable water were available at least for 3-4 days.  They mentioned that the category 4  hurricane had shifted its position slightly to a more northwesterly path which woulld put it more directly in Barbados' sight.  But they expressed confidence that the worst they'd get would be barely hurricane force winds (75- 80 mph) and maybe 3 inches of rain.   They said they'd stay in touch but if we didn't hear it likely meant communications were down.   

The main gripe they (and we) had was that the U.S. media (with few exceptions - see link below) was largely silent about the threat and its impact on the Caribbean islands. According to our niece Trudi, "It's kind of typical.  Who dares (in the great U.S.) about tiny little islands that have no importance for the big shots other than as tourist destinations."

Well, she's correct. But what I've been more interested in is in knowing how my fellow Mensans (and Ilians) might react to the earliest most powerful storm and that over a dozen more are forecast.

Of course, experts have been warning for months that the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season could be one for the record books, thanks to unprecedented warm waters.  Never mind the climate change deniers – especially in the high IQ societies -who perpetually insist it’s just “worse weather than normal”.  Uh, no it is not. It’s historically adverse climate- impacting weather owing to the record CO2 concentrations now in the atmosphere.

Anyway, most recent word we got from Bim this a.m. is that the lights and electric are still on and apart from a few flooded districts Bajans have come through another near miss with minimal impacts. But they will be closely monitoring events on Monday.

Update:  Monday (10:35 a.m.):  The island dodged a bullet as Beryl with 150 mph winds passed west and to the south of the island - the latest image  can be seen below. 

Reports from family are that damage has been minimal, mostly from tropical force winds (40- 50 mph). Our niece Christine lost her prized Ixora tree in the backyard but everyone is safe and sound.  Had the hurricane's path been just 200 miles to the north this could have been a different story. We are glad it wasn't!

See Also:

Hurricane Beryl becomes Category 4 storm on its way through Caribbean