Here we go again. Yet another hurricane on its final approach toward the northern Gulf Coast. Hurricane Zeta will likely be making landfall in southeast Louisiana by late afternoon or early evening. This will be the third hurricane to make landfall in Louisiana this season. It will also be the latest calendar year hurricane to hit the U.S. since Kate (1985).

As of 10am EDT, Zeta had max winds of 90 mph and some additional strengthening is likely to occur as it approaches the coast. The center of the storm was located about 220 miles SW of the mouth of the Mississippi River. It’s current forward speed is 18 mph, but it will be accelerating leading up to landfall. Any final preparations for residents in SE Louisiana or the Mississippi Gulf Coast should be wrapped up by early this afternoon at the latest.

This fast storm motion should keep rainfall totals limited to only a few inches, which will largely rule out any freshwater flooding. However, storm surge flooding and wind damage/power outages will be widespread. Near and just east of where Zeta makes landfall, storm surge will be highest. Particularly from the mouth of the Pearl River, eastward to Dauphin Island, AL, surge of 6-9 feet can be expected.

Much cooler, sunnier weather will set in once the storm passes.

Tropical Depression 28 formed Saturday evening a couple hundred miles south of far western Cuba. It should soon become Tropical Storm Zeta – the 27th named storm of the 2020 season (ties 2005 for most on record).

Intensity increases will likely be slow to take place over the next day or two, as the system slowly gets organized. Once it has a little more structure to work with, additional strengthening should take place near the Yucatan and in the southern Gulf. It’s possible Zeta becomes a hurricane. The good news is that the combination of cooler shelf waters and increasing shear should help gradually weaken the storm as it approaches the northern Gulf Coast. That being said, any storm no matter how weak/strong is not great news for an area that have already been hit hard this hurricane season.

The track of Zeta is going to be dictated by both a ridge nosing over Florida, and a fast-moving trough coming out of the southwestern U.S. The exact timing of this trough in regards to when it picks up the storm and races it NNE, will have a big impact on where exactly Zeta will ultimately make landfall. We’ll keep you posted in the coming days, and will be able to talk about specific impacts as confidence increases in the storm’s exact track.