CBS News reports:
The 2020 hurricane season continues to overachieve as Hurricane Zeta formed Monday as it heads toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The storm is taking a track similar to Hurricane Delta, striking near Cancun and then heading towards the Northern Gulf Coast.
Zeta is located about 120 miles southeast of Cozumel, Mexico, with maximum winds of 70 mph, the National Hurricane Center said Monday afternoon. It was moving northwest at 10 mph.
The hurricane center’s forecast cone shows landfall anywhere between southeast Louisiana and the western Florida Panhandle. This would be the 8th storm to make landfall along the Gulf Coast this season, with the highest concentration in Louisiana.
NBC News reports:
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) urged all Louisianans to monitor the storm over the next few days. “It is unfortunate we face another tropical threat this late in a very active season. We must roll up our sleeves, like we always do, and prepare for a potential impact to Louisiana,” Edwards said in a statement.
“We will once again find solutions for this potential threat while working to help the other areas of the state impacted by Hurricanes Laura and Delta. If Tropical Storm Zeta does become a serious threat, we stand ready to ramp up our actions as a state to meet the needs of our people and communities,” he said.
210 PM CDT Update: Data from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicate that #Zeta is now a hurricane with maximum sustained winds of around 80 mph. More information at https://t.co/tW4KeFW0gB pic.twitter.com/wAESCd9FP5
— National Hurricane Center (@NHC_Atlantic) October 26, 2020
BREAKING: Zeta has strengthened into a hurricane as it heads toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Forecasters expect the 27th named storm of the Atlantic season to move over the Yucatan before approaching the U.S. Gulf Coast at midweek. https://t.co/i0XvECVQn6
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 26, 2020
BREAKING: #Zeta is now a Category 1 hurricane. This is the 11th hurricane of the 2020 season. pic.twitter.com/2H1Z8rT0Ii
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) October 26, 2020