Beryl Comes Ashore Marking Early Start to Storm Season
Monday, May 28, 2012
By: Tom Parkinson

May 28, 2012 | WMFE - Tropical Storm Beryl is moving across North Florida bringing heavy rains, high winds and the possibility of flooding. The National Hurricane Center says Beryl made landfall near Jacksonville Beach just after midnight Monday with near hurricane strength winds of 70 mph. The system quickly began to lose strength and was clocking winds of about 40 to 50 MPH by late morning.

The weather system is expected to continue dumping rain over North Florida and South Georgia throughout the day and is forecast to take a turn for the Northeast and weaken as it moves across Georgia and South Carolina before moving back out into the Atlantic.
Storm specialist John Cangiosi, with the National Hurricane Center, says now that the high winds have subsided, heavy rains are the major concern.
“We could see 4 to 8 inches of rain with isolated amounts up to a foot of rain across north Florida and southeast Georgia and even portions of South Carolina as it makes its turn.” Cangiosi said.
Beryl is the second named storm this year after Alberto and the Atlantic hurricane season doesn’t officially start until Friday, June 1st.
But the Hurricane Center’s Cangiolosi says an early start doesn't necessarily mean an active season ahead. “There’s no good correlation between what happens in May and what happens the rest of the year.”
Most of the effects in Central Florida are expected to be in the form of showers and thunderstorms inland and strong rip currents and heavy surf along the coast.
Swimmers and surfers are advised to use extreme caution throughout the next few days.