Hurricane Beryl, which tore through Caribbean islands this week, became the earliest Category 5 hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic.

A Category 5 is the highest on the Saffir-Simpson scale, with sustained winds of 157 mph or greater.

Beryl’s strength fluctuated as it traveled toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. But it was only the second Category 5 to ever be recorded in the Atlantic in the month of July. 

The storm’s strength has been fed by abnormally warm ocean waters driven by planet-warming fossil fuel pollution.

“Hurricanes don’t know what month it is. They only know what their ambient environment is,” Jim Kossin, a hurricane expert and science advisor at nonprofit First Street Foundation, told CNN.

Here are some of the stories that made headlines over the past week, as well as some photos that caught our eye.