It’s rare, but not completely unheard of. A major hurricane rarely forms in the month of November. The season ends November 30th, so normally things are really dying down by now. But, this is 2020 and the norm went out the window many, many months ago.
Eta is now packing winds of 120 mph and continues to strengthen. The storm is expected to become at least a cat 4 by the time it makes landfall. It’s not impossible that the storm could reach cat 5 status. Rare for November, for sure.
We have now had three major hurricanes in October – November. That’s the first time that has happened since records have been kept. This is the fifth major hurricane to form in the Atlantic/Gulf basin this year.
The storm will very slowly move onshore, bringing catastrophic storm surge to Nicaragua. The storm will then slowly move into the mountains, dropping feet of rain on mountain villages. Entire villages will disappear under landslides. A humanitarian crisis of epic proportions is possible.
Had this not been an election week, you would hear all about this in the news. But, alas.
Keep these folks close to your hearts.
Normally, a storm in this area would die in the mountains. But, this is not a normal year. Eta is expected to re-emerge into the Caribbean and move northward by next weekend. There are strong indications that the US may be dealing with this before all is said and done. Some models even show a major hurricane in the southern Gulf by this time next week. I’ll keep you posted.
The satellite imagery shows that pinhole of an eye of this major hurricane.
