El Nino warps weather worldwide. Meteorologists say the natural El Nino cycle is both adding to and feeling the heat of a warming world. A new study says a shift from a rare three‑year La Nina to a strong El Nino recently helped trap extra heat in the climate system. Study authors say between warming from greenhouse gases and that La Nina to El Nino change, it explains three-quarters of Earth's energy imbalance, which leads to extra heat. Warmer waters are also causing NOAA to shift how it calculates and labels this cycle, which likely means more La Ninas and fewer El Ninos.
Tropical Storm Raymond has formed in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is the third system now off the western coast of Mexico. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami says Raymond is about 115 miles south-southeast of Zihuatanejo, Mexico. It has maximum sustained winds of 45 mph and is traveling west-northwest at 14 mph. At the same time, Tropical Storm Priscilla remains off the western coast of Mexico and is bringing rain to the Baja California peninsula. The former tropical storm Octave also churned in the eastern Pacific near Mexico but was downgraded Thursday morning to a post-tropical cyclone and was expected to dissipate soon.
Hurricane Erin never made landfall, but it left behind rough ocean conditions along the U.S. East Coast. At least two people have died, a 17-year-old boy in New Hampshire and a 59-year-old man in New York, after they went swimming in heavy current. A search continued Monday for a man who was missing after his boat capsized off of Salisbury Beach in Massachusetts on Saturday. The teen was pulled away by a strong ocean current off of Hampton Beach. The man was swimming at Sailors Haven in the Fire Island National Seashore. Forecasters say there are no coastal watches or warnings for newly formed Tropical Storm Juliette in the Pacific Ocean and Tropical Storm Fernand in the Atlantic.
By DÁNICA COTO and AMAR SPENCER-SAYERS Associated Press
Hurricane Beryl is roaring across the Caribbean Sea as a powerful Category 4 storm on a path toward Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. At least six people have died after Beryl slammed the southeast Caribbean. A hurricane warning was in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch for Grand Cayman, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. Beryl is expected to start losing intensity but still to be near major hurricane strength as it passes near or over Jamaica, near the Cayman Islands and into Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Beryl is the earliest Category 5 storm ever to form in the Atlantic, fueled by record warm waters.
Hurricane Beryl has made landfall on the Caribbean island of Carriacou. The dangerous and powerful Category 4 storm is the earliest one of its strength to form in the Atlantic, fueled by record warm waters. Carriacou is one of the islands of Grenada. Officials there reported damage on Monday that included roofs being blown off in maximum winds increasing to top winds of 150 mph, or about 240 kmph, just shy of a Category 5 storm. Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, Grenada, Tobago and St. Vincent and the Grenadines as thousands of people hunkered down in homes and shelters
