Although both Tropical Storm Francine and Hurricane Beryl began as depressions in the Atlantic hurricane core, Beryl emerged in late June and became the earliest Category 5 hurricane to form on record.
Hurricane Francine, the sixth storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season , formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico late on September 8. Francine started much closer to Texas than Beryl, which strengthened in the tropical Atlantic even before making its first landfall on the eastern Caribbean coast.
The proximity to Texas doesn't mean Francine can't quickly develop into a hurricane, but it certainly won't have enough time or distance to develop into a Category 5 storm like Hurricane Beryl did in the Atlantic, hurricane forecasters say .
However, the waters in the Gulf of Mexico are warm and the storm is expected to strengthen to at least a Category 2 hurricane before making landfall in south-central Louisiana on September 11.
Both Beryl and Francine gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico after crossing the Yucatan Peninsula from the Caribbean. While Beryl headed northwest before making landfall in southeastern Texas, Francine is expected to track more northeast and spend more time in open waters. The additional thermal energy absorbed from the water could make Francine even stronger than Beryl when it makes landfall.
It's too early to compare the potential damage of this storm directly to Beryl, but the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) warns that Francine will have the potential to produce life-threatening surf and damaging winds for parts of the Louisiana and upper Texas coasts.
Superstorm Beryl traveled nearly 10,000 km in more than 2 weeks, passing through the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean, the Bay of Campeche and the Gulf of Mexico, creating 3 devastating landfalls.
The storm caused the most damage in Grenada, where Beryl reached Category 4 intensity on July 1. It soon became a Category 5 hurricane — the highest level on the five-point Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.
On July 2, the estimated maximum sustained winds at the center of Hurricane Beryl reached 265 km/h, exceeding the threshold of a Category 5 hurricane. That made Beryl the strongest July superstorm ever recorded in the Atlantic.
On September 9, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry urged residents to "not panic, but be prepared" and heed evacuation warnings. According to the latest storm information , Hurricane Francine is expected to make landfall in southern Louisiana on the afternoon of September 11 with winds of 155-175 km/h, equivalent to a Category 2 on the 5-level Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.
