Tropical storm Eta expected to become hurricane and heads to Central America

Forecasters said they expected the newly-formed Tropical storm Eta to become a hurricane by Monday, shortly after the system formed in the Caribbean and tied the record for most named storms in a single Atlantic hurricane season.

The increase in named storms can be attributed to human-induced climate change. As the world’s oceans continue to warm, hurricanes are more likely.

Eta is the 28th named Atlantic storm this season, tying the 2005 record. However, this is the first time the Greek letter Eta is being used as a storm name because in 2005, after the season ended, meteorologists determined there was a storm that should have been named.

Hurricane season still has a month to go, ending on 30 November. In 2005, Zeta formed at the end of December.

The system had maximum sustained winds of 40mph on Sunday morning, the US National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. It was centered 215 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica, and 435 miles east of Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Nicaragua-Honduras border.

The system is forecast to be near the north-eastern coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras by Tuesday morning. A hurricane watch was issued for parts of both countries. Eta was moving west at about 15mph.

Rainfall totals could reach 15in in parts of Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and the southern coast of Hispaniola by

Thursday evening. Isolated amounts of up to 30in could fall in portions of Honduras and Nicaragua, forecasters said.