WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Tropical Storm Zeta formed early Sunday with its sights set on hurricane strength and the beleaguered Gulf Coast.
The National Hurricane Center expects Zeta to reach weak Category 1 status in the warm belly of the Gulf of Mexico by Tuesday before coming ashore somewhere between Florida’s western Panhandle and western Louisiana later in the week.
Zeta is the 27th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season and the earliest forming on record. The previous record for earliest 27th named storm was Nov. 29, 2005, according to Colorado State University hurricane expert Phil Klotzbach.
As of 8 a.m. Sunday, Zeta was 290 miles south-southeast of the western tip of Cuba with 40 mph sustained winds. The storm was stationary.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for Pinar del Rio, Cuba. A tropical storm watch was in effect for Tulum to Rio Lagaros, Mexico and Cozumel.
This is only the second time a storm has carried the name Zeta – the 6th letter in the Greek alphabet – after 2020 exhausted its regular list of storm names. The first cyclone to bear the name Zeta was in the hyper-active 2005 season with a tropical storm that formed in late December and lasted into early January 2006.
Stacy Stewart, a senior hurricane specialist at the NHC, said Zeta will start moving on a northwestward track soon and reach the northeastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula in about 48 hours. It should be in the Gulf of Mexico by about Tuesday.
“Thereafter, however, the models diverge fairly significantly due to the uncertainty in the evolution of the next steering mechanism – a trough over the northwestern U.S. that will dig southward and phase up/merge (with) a trough off the Southern California and Baja California coasts,” Stewart wrote in a 5 a.m. forecast.
Stewart said Zeta’s stationary status and the unclear future steering mechanisms make the “details of the track forecast more uncertain than usual.”
Cooler waters near the Gulf Coast and an increase in wind shear could allow for some weakening before Zeta makes landfall.
But the NHC cautions that strong tropical storms can still produce significant storm surge, rainfall, and wind impacts.
Follow reporter Kimberly Miller on Twitter: @Kmillerweather
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