Hurricane Eta is rapidly intensifying and could make landfall Tuesday in Nicaragua as a Category 4 storm.
The storm, which has just reached 75 mph at 5 a.m. Monday, was already a powerful Category 2 hurricane with 110 mph winds by 10 a.m. And it could get stronger. The National Hurricane Center forecasts that Eta could come ashore as a Category 4 storm with maximum winds of a whopping 140 mph.
As of 10 a.m. Monday, Eta was moving west near 9 mph and was a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph with higher gusts, according to the hurricane center. The storm was about 115 miles east of Cabo Gracias a Dios, a cape that is on the Honduras-Nicaragua border and about 140 miles east-northeast of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua.
“Low vertical wind shear and warm sea surface temperatures ahead of Eta are expected to allow for continued rapid strengthening during the next 12 to 24 hours,” forecasters wrote.
Once it makes landfall, Eta is expected to weaken as it moves over the mountains of Nicaragua and Honduras, but some models show it could re-strengthen and enter the Caribbean again as a tropical depression.
“Although Eta’s low-level center may not survive after being inland over Central America for so long, most of the global models depict a cyclone over the northwestern Caribbean Sea later this week and into the weekend which appears to develop from at least a part of Eta’s remnants, and the new NHC track forecast shows the system emerging over the northwest Caribbean Sea after 96 h. However, the uncertainty in the long-range portion of the forecast remains quite high,” forecasters wrote.
With Eta, the 2020 hurricane season ties 2005 for most named storms in a season — 28 — and also marks the first time a storm has been named for the seventh letter in the Greek alphabet. Eta is also the fifth storm in a row this season to rapidly intensify, which is when a storm gains at least 35 mph wind speed in 24 hours.
How will Hurricane Eta affect Central America?
Eta is expected to bring life-threatening storm surge, damaging winds, flash flooding and landslides across portions of Central America. Heavy rainfall is also expected, with Nicaragua and Honduras forecast to get the worst of it, with 10 to 25 inches of rain and some isolated areas seeing up to 35 inches of rain.
“This rainfall would lead to catastrophic, life-threatening flash flooding and river flooding, along with landslides in areas of higher terrain of Central America. Flash flooding and river flooding would be possible across Jamaica, southeast Mexico, El Salvador, southern Haiti, and the Cayman Islands,” forecasters wrote.
A dangerous storm surge is also forecast to raise the water as much as 10 to 15 feet above normal tide levels along the coast of Nicaragua that is within the hurricane warning area, and 3 to 5 feet above normal tide levels along the coast of Honduras tropical storm warning area.
“Since this is likely to be a very slow-moving system after it makes landfall in Central America, torrential rains and flooding will be a major threat from Eta,” forecasters wrote.
Where is Hurricane Eta going and how strong is it?
On the forecast track, Eta is expected to be a strong Category 4 hurricane when it make landfall somewhere on the coast of Nicaragua, which is under a hurricane warning from the Honduras-Nicaragua border to the Sandy Bay Sirpi. A hurricane watch is also in effect for the northeastern coast of Honduras from Punta Patuca to the Honduras-Nicaragua border.
The National Hurricane Center predicts Eta will have maximum sustained winds near 140 mph early Tuesday.
The northeastern coast of Honduras from Punta Patuca to the Honduras-Nicaragua border is also under a tropical storm warning and a tropical storm watch is in effect from the northern coast of Honduras from west of Punta Patuca west to Punta Castilla.
The latest forecast by the hurricane center showed Eta weakening drastically over land, but then re-entering the Caribbean as a tropical depression with 35 mph winds on Saturday morning.