Iota gains strength, aims for Central America as hurricane
NHC says tropical storm expected to become Category 3
Tropical Storm Iota is expected to become a major Category 3 hurricane and bring dangerous storm surge, strong winds and heavy rainfall to Central America into early next week, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Iota formed in the Caribbean on Friday afternoon, becoming the 30th named storm of a record-breaking hurricane season. It grew from a tropical depression earlier Friday.
At 7 p.m. EST Saturday, Iota was located about 455 miles east-southeast of Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Nicaragua/ Honduras border, and about 375 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica.
Its maximum sustained winds increased to 60 mph with higher gusts, and it was moving west-southwest at 7 mph. Steady to rapid strengthening is expected during the next two days, and Iota is forecast to be at or near major hurricane strength when it approaches Central America, based on NHC reports.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 105 miles fromits center.
Iota poses no threat to Florida.
“On the forecast track, Iota will move across the southwest Caribbean Sea tonight and Sunday, pass near or over Providencia island on Monday and approach the coasts of Nicaragua and northeastern Honduras Monday afternoon or evening,” forecasters said.
Iota is expected to produce 8 to 16 inches of rain, with isolated 20 to 30-inch totals, across portions of Honduras and northern Nicaragua through Thursday next week, the NHC said.
As the storm reaches Central America, it’s expected to become a Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph winds. It would be the 13th hurricane of the season.
The government of Nicaragua issued a Hurricane Watch from Sandy Bay Sirpi southward to its border with Honduras on Saturday afternoon.
The Honduran government also issued a Hurricane Watch from its border with Nicaragua to the west toward Punta Patuca. Honduras also has a Tropical Storm Watch in effect west of Punta Patuca to Punta Castilla.
The Colombian government issued a Tropical Storm Warning for the islands of San Andrés and Providencia on Saturday morning. Tropical storm conditions are expected to begin on the listed Colombian islands by late Sunday.
Iota’s familiar path
Iota is moving along the same path that Tropical Storm Eta took when it headed straight for Central America over a week ago and also strengthened into a major hurricane.
Eta thrashed Nicaragua and Honduras as a major Category 4 storm and weakened to a depression over the region’s mountainous terrain. It then turned back towards the Caribbean and redeveloped into a tropical storm to target the Cayman Islands, Cuba, the Bahamas and, ultimately, Florida.
“Central America is going to be impacted a lot because they have already seen very heavy rains and strong winds just about ten days ago, and more is on the way,” Gargaro said.
People in the region are still grappling with the aftermath of Eta, which has been blamed for the deaths of at least 120 people as torrential rains brought flash floods and landslides to parts of Central America and Mexico.
Then it meandered across Cuba, the Florida Keys and around the Gulf of Mexico before slogging ashore again near Cedar Key, Florida, and dashing across Florida and the Carolinas.
Eta made landfall over Lower Matecumbe Key late last Sunday. It dumped torrential rain across South Florida, causing flooding and whipping up winds and storm surge.
The NHC has stopped tracking Tropical Storm Eta. Forecasters predict Eta to accelerate in speed and sprint northeast away from the U.S.
The official end of hurricane season is about two weeks away, so if the tropics continue to churn out waves with high chances for development, the world may see more record-breaking figures and potentially more dangerous storms.
The earlier tropical depression tied 2005’s 31 tropical systems. The previous record for named storms was 29, also set in 2005, which was surpassed earlier this week with the formation of Tropical Storm Theta.
Farther east, Tropical Storm Theta is continuing its eastbound journey and is about 620 miles southeast of the Azores. The storm has weakened to 40 mph maximum sustained winds and is moving at 6 mph with outward tropical-storm-force winds reaching up to 90 miles away from its center.
The NHC expects Theta to weaken over the next few days, according to the latest advisory. Theta is forecast to become a remnant low by Sunday morning and dissipate early nextweek.