Hurricane Zeta

Hurricane Zeta

Hurricane Zeta was the record-tying sixth hurricane to make landfall in the United States and the record fifth named storm to strike Louisiana in 2020. It is the earliest 27th Atlantic tropical or subtropical storm on record, surpassing the old mark of November 29 which was set by Hurricane Epsilon in 2005. The storm caused at least USD 3. 21 billion in damage throughout its path: USD 3. 2 billion in the U.S. and USD 10 million in the Caribbean.

About Hurricane Zeta in brief

Summary Hurricane ZetaHurricane Zeta was the record-tying sixth hurricane to make landfall in the United States and the record fifth named storm to strike Louisiana in 2020. It was the twenty-seventh named storm and eleventh hurricane of the exceptionally active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. Zeta formed from a broad area of low pressure that formed in the western Caribbean Sea on October 19. After battling wind shear, the quasi-stationary low organized into Tropical Depression Twenty-Eight. The system strengthened into Tropical Storm Zeta early on October 25 before becoming a hurricane the next day as it began to move northwestward. It reached its peak intensity of 110 mph and a minimum pressure of 970 mbar as it made landfall in Cocodrie, Louisiana, that evening. After bringing accumulating snow to parts of New England, Zeta accelerated across the north Atlantic, re-intensifying into a hurricane-force extratropical cyclone as it impacted the United Kingdom on November 1 and 2. The storm caused at least USD 3. 21 billion in damage throughout its path: USD 3. 2 billion in the U.S. and USD 10 million in the Caribbean. At least six fatalities have been confirmed in the region and at least six deaths have been reported in Jamaica, where a landslide led to a man and his daughter being killed when it hit their family home on October 24. It is the earliest 27th Atlantic tropical or subtropical storm on record, surpassing the old mark of November 29 which was set by Hurricane Epsilon in 2005.

It weakened to a tropical storm as it continued over the Yucatán Peninsula and moved offshore of the northern coast of the peninsula by 15: 00:00 UTC on October 27. It continued to weaken as it moved through central Virginia on  October 29, as it became post-tropical on November 1 and 2. It became the first tropical cyclone since Hurricane Sandy in 2012 to produce accumulating snow and one of only four tropical cyclones since 1804 to do so. It made landfall north Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico, at 04:00: 00 UTC on October 27 with winds of 80 mph and a 977mbar pressure, despite having a large amount of exposed outflow out of the center of Zeta’s circulation, leaving half of the storm exposed out of it. It then weakened while inland to a Tropical storm, before moving off the  northern coast of the peninsula on Oct 27 and becoming a Category 2 hurricane as it turned northeastward approaching the Gulf Coast on  Oct 28. It eventually weakened as it accelerated northeastward, and became a hurricane again, and eventually a Category-2 hurricane, on Nov 1. At 06: 00  UTC the following morning, the depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Zeta, the earliest 27th Atlantic tropical storm on record. It remained well-organized, although dry air wrapped around the northern half of the storm’s circulation.