Iota likely a major hurricane before Central America landfall

Published: Updated:

Iota was upgraded to a hurricane overnight, making it the 13th hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season. As of 10 p.m. the storm has strengthened to a 105 mph Category 2 hurricane, and is moving to the west at 10 mph.

Iota is in a very favorable environment for strengthening, with very warm water, low wind shear, and lots of atmospheric moisture. Because of this, Iota is forecast to explosively intensify into an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane before landfall near the Honduras-Nicaragua border late Monday into early Tuesday.

This is the worst cast scenario for Central America, who is still dealing with the catastrophic aftermath of Hurricane Eta. On top of the already devastating damage, additional life-threatening flooding, storm surge, and wind damage is likely.

The good news? Iota is not expected to pose any threat to the United States. Unlike what we saw with Eta, this system will not be allowed to turn northward thanks to a blocking area of high pressure set to build over the Gulf of Mexico and Florida this week.

We’ll continue to monitor this system just in case anything changes, but for right now, this is not looking like it will be a worry to any part of the United States, including Florida.

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