At 800 AM EDT (1200 UTC), the center of Hurricane Beryl was located near latitude 18.7 North, longitude 81.8 West. Beryl is moving toward the west-northwest near 20 mph (31 km/h). A westward to west- northwestward motion is expected during the next day or two, taking the core of Beryl away from the Cayman Islands this morning and over the Yucatan Peninsula early Friday. Beryl is expected to emerge over the southwestern Gulf of Mexico Friday night and turn northwestward. Reports from a NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that maximum sustained winds are near 120 mph (195 km/h) with higher gusts. Beryl is a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Weakening is forecast during the next day or two, though Beryl is forecast to remain a hurricane until it makes landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 45 miles (75 km) from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles (280 km). Grand Cayman Island recently reported sustained winds of 44 mph (70 km/h) and a wind gust of 54 mph (87 km/h). The minimum central pressure from the Hurricane Hunter aircraft data is 968 mb (28.59 inches).
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