The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is now tied for the most active in recorded history as “life-threatening” Hurricane Eta barrels toward Central America.
Eta is a major Category 4 hurricane that is churning in the waters off the coast of Nicaragua and is expected to make landfall in the area sometime on Tuesday. As of Monday afternoon, it was packing maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour and is moving west at 9 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The NHC said that “life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds, flash flooding, and landslides [are] expected across portions of Central America.”
“Catastrophic wind damage is expected where Eta’s eyewall moves onshore within the Hurricane Warning area beginning tonight, with tropical storm conditions expected by this afternoon,” the NHC added.
Much of the north-eastern coast of Nicaragua is under a hurricane warning, while the northern coast of Honduras is under hurricane watches and tropical storm warnings. The storm is also expected to generate a lot of rain in the region, including isolated amounts up to 35 inches in parts of Honduras and Nicaragua and 25 inches in Belize and Costa Rica.
Both this year’s season and the 2005 season have had the same number of storm systems. Tropical Storm Zeta was the last-named storm in 2005, although after the season was over, the NHC decided that it should have named a storm that it had not, increasing the total to 28 and tying the 2020 season.
The hurricane season began on June 1 and runs through the end of November, although named storms can still form after the season ends.
#Eta has rapidly intensified to a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph. Continued strengthening is expected before it makes landfall along the northeastern coast of #Nicaragua on Tuesday.https://t.co/a6nU87U3bG pic.twitter.com/yFRb0ObYHt
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) November 2, 2020
