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Yet Another Tropical Storm Is Forming In The Caribbean. Will It Be The Last In 2020?

The latest storm in what has been an historic 2020 Atlantic hurricane season has formed in the central Caribbean and is on the verge of becoming the 30 th named system this year.

Tropical Depression 31 is eerily following the same early track as Tropical Storm Eta.

The National Hurricane Center has determined the system is a tropical depression with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. As of Friday morning, it was located about 310 miles south-southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, and moving west-southwest at 7 mph – toward Nicaragua and Honduras, just as Eta did almost two weeks ago.

It is forecast to strengthen into Tropical Storm Iota later in the day, and could potentially become a hurricane as it reaches the Central America coastline.

Much like Eta, forecasters say the storm could produce a deluge of 20-30 inches of rain across northern Nicaragua and Honduras.

Eta managed to do an about-face and re-emerge in the Caribbean before moving into the Gulf of Mexico and, eventually, making landfall near Cedar Key early Thursday morning.

Forecasters say conditions are favorable for TD 31 to reach Category 3 strength by Monday, with projected maximum sustained winds of 110 mph.

Will there be a repeat of Eta’s track? Not likely, forecasters say, as it is projected to make landfall on Tuesday and move inland as a post-tropical remnant low.

What also remains to be seen is whether Iota will be the last named storm we will see this year. As of yet, the only other storm on the hurricane center’s radar is Tropical Storm Theta, which remains well out in the open Atlantic and is no threat to land.

Copyright 2020 WUSF Public Media - WUSF 89.7. To see more, visit WUSF Public Media - WUSF 89.7.

Carl Lisciandrello is digital news editor of WUSF Public Media.
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