Amid a record-breaking hurricane season, tropical depression Eta continues to rip through Central America, with its projected path taking it north to Florida and possibly restrengthening into a hurricane.
As of Thursday morning, Eta had weakened into a tropical depression, according to the National Hurricane Center. The center warned of “catastrophic, life-threatening flash flooding and river flooding across portions of Central America.”
Here are the 3 AM CST Key Messages for Tropical Depression #Eta. More info: https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB pic.twitter.com/turiX7VmTo
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) November 5, 2020
Before weakening into a depression, Eta challenged Hurricane Laura as the strongest storm of the season after it became the 28th named storm this year. Eta was the third-strongest hurricane recorded in the month of November, with winds nearing 150 mph.
The NHC expects Eta will “regain tropical storm strength” after it gets pushed to the east and enters warmer Caribbean Sea water late this week as it continues its winding track northward. Before hitting southern Florida, Eta is expected to make landfall over Cuba, which will likely impede its strengthening.
Should Eta regain enough strength to be classified as a hurricane before it makes landfall on the United States, it would break the record for the most hurricanes to make U.S. landfall. Six hurricanes made landfall in 1886, 1985, and 2020. A hurricane Eta would be the 7th.
Even without making landfall, Eta has been a record-breaking storm. This year has been the most active hurricane season since 2005, when 28 tropical cyclones formed and 15 became hurricanes, according to NHC’s data archives. Eta is 2020’s 29th storm. Seven hurricanes in 2005 were considered to be major hurricanes. This year, there have been 29 total storms, and Eta was the 12th to become a hurricane. Eta was also the fourth storm to be considered a major storm, according to CNN.
Earlier this year, Hurricane Delta broke the 1916 record for the most named storms to hit the U.S. Even if Eta fails to regain hurricane strength, it adds yet another storm to that tally.
