Hurricane Iota is now a Category 5 storm with sustained winds exceeding 160 miles per hour and continues to break records with two weeks to go in what has been one of the most active hurricane seasons in 170 years.
“Iota is expected to remain a catastrophic Category 5 hurricane when it approaches the coast of Nicaragua tonight,” the National Hurricane Center tweeted. “Extreme winds and life-threatening storm surge are expected along portions of the coast of northeastern Nicaragua, where a hurricane warning is in effect.”
Here are the 10 am EST Key Messages for category 5 Hurricane #Iota. Extreme winds and a life-threatening storm surge are expected along portions of the coast of northeastern Nicaragua. Life-threatening flash flooding is also expected in Central America. https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB pic.twitter.com/CP5u0WQY5m
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) November 16, 2020
An Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft and crew made a 10-hour roundtrip flight into the eye of the hurricane to measure wind speeds and barometric pressure. The crew “encountered intense lightning and hail in the southwestern quadrant” before reaching the 15-nautical-mile-wide eye.
Iota is expected to weaken rapidly after making landfall with the “rugged terrain” of Nicaragua and Honduras. But given the storm’s size and strength, Iota will bring “life-threatening flash flooding and river flooding across portions of Central America.” The NHC warned that the lingering effects of Eta on the region could increase the risk of mudslides. Storm surges from Iota could reach as high as 12 feet to 18 feet above normal water levels, and some areas can expect as much as 30 inches of rainfall.
Iota is the strongest hurricane of 2020 and the only Category 5 storm of this year, according to ABC News. This is also the latest in a year that a hurricane-strength storm has ever formed, surpassing the Nov. 8, 1932, Cuba Hurricane.
Previously, the most active hurricane season on record was 2005, but 2020 has met or surpassed nearly every record set by that year. This year ties 2005 for most total storms (named or unnamed), at 31. However, 2020 beats 2005 for most named storms, at 30. This year blew past the record for most named storms to hit the United States, at 12, according to the Washington Post. Six of the storms that hit the U.S. were hurricanes, another record. Six storms total this year have been considered major hurricanes — more than double the historical average, according to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.
Such unprecedented hurricane activity is the result of several overlapping trends, the Washington Post reported. Most predominant among them was the formation of a La Nina weather pattern in the tropical Pacific — cooler waters in the equatorial Pacific pushed the jet stream north, making it far easier for tropical cyclones to form and not get blown apart by strong high-altitude winds.
Another contributing factor was warmer-than-usual water temperatures in the Atlantic — caused in part by climate change. Scientists are unsure the extent to which anthropogenically accelerated climate change contributes to a greater number of storms in a given year, but they agree that “climate change is making it more likely for hurricanes to behave in certain ways,” according to the New York Times. Climate change has made storms stronger, wetter, and slower, all of which make hurricanes more dangerous and more costly.
