Although both Tropical Storm Francine and Hurricane Beryl began as depressions in the Atlantic hurricane center, Beryl arrived in late June and became the earliest Category 5 super typhoon to form in history.
Hurricane No. 6 Francine in the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season formed in the southwest of the Gulf of Mexico late on September 8. Francine's start was much closer to Texas than Beryl - a storm that intensified in the tropical Atlantic even before making a first landfall on the eastern Caribbean coast.
The distance near Texas does not mean Francine cannot quickly become a hurricane, but it certainly won't have enough time or distance to become a Category 5 hurricane as Hurricane Beryl did in the Atlantic, forecasters said.
However, the waters in the Gulf of Mexico are warm and the storm is expected to strengthen into at least a Category 2 storm before making landfall in southern-central Louisiana on September 11.
Both Beryl and Francine have regained strength in the Gulf of Mexico after crossing the Yucatan Peninsula from the Caribbean. While Beryl heads northwest before making landfall in southeastern Texas, Francine's projected path is northeaster and spends more time overseas. The extra heat energy absorbed from the water could make the Francine even stronger than Beryl when it makes landfall.
It is too early to compare the potential damage from Hurricane No. 6 directly with Beryl, but the National Hurricane Center (NHC) warns that Francine is likely to create life-threatening high waves and strong winds that will damage parts of the Louisiana coast and upstream Texas.
Superstorm Beryl has traveled nearly 10,000 km for more than 2 weeks, passing through the Atlantic, Caribbean, Gulf of Campeche and Gulf of Mexico, creating 3 landslides with terrible destructive power.
The storm caused the most damage in Grenada, where Beryl reached Category 4 strength on July 1. It soon became a Category 5 storm - the highest on the 5-point Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.
On July 2, maximum sustained winds at the center of Hurricane Beryl are estimated at 265 km/h, exceeding the threshold of a Category 5 storm. That made Beryl the strongest July superstorm on record in the Atlantic.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry called on residents to "not panic, but prepare" and pay attention to evacuation warnings on September 9. According to the latest storm news, 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 Category 2 on the 5-point Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale.
