Eta Is a Hurricane (Again) as It Threatens Florida (Again)

Last week , I kindly asked then - Tropical tempest Eta to go awaybecause it was clearly drunk . It did not listen .

The town inebriated of the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico has since find hurricane status , and its stumbling way of life now has it aimed squarely at Florida ’s Gulf Coast . It will scar the storm ’s fourth landfall since reach tropical storm status 11 days ago .

Hurricane Eta is a Category 1 storm after Hurricane Hunter aircraft obtain it was packing winds of 75 mph ( 121 kph ) on Wednesday morning . The storm ’s outer pelting striation are already slap the Florida Gulf Coast from the Everglades northward to Tampa . tropic storm watch and word of advice run over an even spacious belt , reach near the Florida Panhandle and as far in the south as the Dry Tortugas National Park .

[extremely Jack Nicholson in The Shining voice] Heeeeere’s Eta!Gif: NOAA/CIRA

https://gizmodo.com/2020-just-broke-a-170-year-hurricane-season-record-1845631026

Eta is expected to run up the coast over the next 24 hours before finally veering inland on Thursday morning somewhere between Cedar Key and Tampa . As it sweep up the coast , it ’s probable to undermine into a tropical tempest . But its fairly wide ( though mercifully not impregnable ) wind field of operation mean it will still be able to excite up tempest tide . Up to 5 feet ( 1.5 metre ) of surge could inundate the Tampa Bay area . Six inches of rain are also potential along the coast . And due to the way tropical cyclones circumvolve in the Atlantic , the Gulf Coast will also face Eta ’s inviolable winds . Though nowhere near the scale of measurement of where they were when Eta made its first landfall in Central America , the tempest could still pack a punch .

Reading all that and looking at the atmospheric condition mapping shows this is , honestly , a mess . Which is meet for a boggy - screw storm like Eta .

To recap , the tempest tied an Atlantic hurricane season record when it became the twenty-eighth appoint violent storm of the season on Halloween . It reached Category 4 condition as ittraversed the Caribbeanand hammered Nicaragua , Guatemala , and Honduras in particular . finally , it wandered back out to sea where it buzzed the Cayman Islands and then made landfall again in Cuba as a tropic tempest . Then it continued marching northward , making a third landfall in the Florida Keys . It also dumped heavy rainwater across South Florida that led to far-flung flooding in place that never make close to the center of the violent storm , such as Miami . Since then , it ’s looped back out to the Gulf and then did a pirouette back toward Florida .

In plus to what I suspect is one too many rum and Cokes on its trip across the Caribbean , Eta has also had little help from the aura in finding a sense of purpose . unremarkably , air current aid guide storms along . But the slackness state of the upper atmosphere is what has appropriate Eta to meander and wobble around the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico . A similar issueplayed out with Hurricane Dorianlast year , though thankfully Eta is nowhere near that layer of ferocity at this power point .

In arecord - position yearwhere we ’ve seen cyclone var. before the season begin , rapidly intensify before landfall , hit the U.S. in record numbers , and even make itall the agency to Lake Superior , Eta still manages to occupy a special spot on the WTF list for its fury in Central America , multiple landfalls , and freakish path . The National Hurricane Center forecasts that by Thursday eventide , it will pop out over the Atlantic and head out to sea as a tropic depression . But if I were living in the Carolinas , I ’d still bid Eta some Advil and money for a cab ride to the high seas just to be safe .

Floridahurricane season

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