A disturbance in the Caribbean Sea has a high chance of turning into a tropical depression or Tropical Storm Iota soon, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The system, described as a broad area of low pressure, was producing showers and thunderstorms over the central Caribbean Sea early Friday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
“Environmental conditions are conducive for additional development, and a tropical depression or tropical storm is likely to form later today or tonight while the system moves slowly westward,” forecasters wrote.
The hurricane center said it has a 90% chance of formation in the next two to five days and those with interests in Honduras and Nicaragua should continue monitoring the system.
If it does turn into Tropical Storm Iota, it would be the 30th named storm of the season and would continue 2020’s streak of most storms recorded in modern history.
The previous record was held by 2005, with 28 storms. This year’s season broke the record Monday night when Tropical Storm Theta formed in the Atlantic.
NOAA predicted this would be an above-average season early on, and mid-season it upped its expectations to call for the highest number of storms it had ever predicted — 25.
But 2020 blew through that in mid-October.
This year is also the second time the Greek alphabet has been used to name storms after the regular list was exhausted.
And in case you’re wondering about Eta, which hit Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane then struck Cuba and Florida as a tropical storm, it became an extratropical low Friday morning about 85 miles southeast of Wilmington, North Carolina.
The National Hurricane Center issued its last advisory on Eta at 4 a.m. Friday and said it will move into the Atlantic’s open waters where it will be absorbed by a larger non-tropical cyclone on Saturday or Saturday night.
Hurricane season ends on Nov. 30.
Miami Herald staff writer Alex Harris contributed to this report.