Iota explosively intensified into a category 5 hurricane overnight in the Caribbean sea offshore of Nicaragua’s mosquito coast. An airforce hurricane hunter plane just measured sustained winds of 165mph in Iota’s southwest eyewall. Hurricane Iota threatens further flooding, mudslides and death to the areas of central America devastated just 2 weeks ago by category 4 hurricane Eta. At least 178 fatalities (with over 100 missing persons) have been attributed to hurricane Eta en.wikipedia.org/… which was the second strongest November hurricane in the Atlantic basin until hurricane Iota. The forecast track of hurricane Iota will take it over the same regions of Nicaragua and Honduras flooded by hurricane Eta, but Iota will then continue westward unlike Eta which curved back into the Caribbean. The flooded land, already devastated by landslides will be prone to further flooding and landslides. The people of Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, who will face extreme challenges, will need international help after the storm passes.
There have never in recorded history been so many tropical storms in the Atlantic and never has central America been struck by 2 major hurricanes in the month of November. This year’s thirteen hurricanes ties 2005 for the most hurricanes on record. At present, Iota’s top winds are about 10 mph less than the 175 mph top winds of the 1932 Cuba hurricane which was the strongest November hurricane recorded in the Atlantic. The November combination of Eta and Iota is absolutely unprecedented.
Here’s the official NHC 10am UPDATE posted at noon: www.nhc.noaa.gov/...
Hurricane Iota Discussion Number 13NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL3120201000 AM EST Mon Nov 16 2020Iota is a very impressive hurricane, especially for this late in the year, with a distinct, warm eye on satellite images and a rather electrified eyewall from the GOES lightning detector. An Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft found maximum 700-mb flight-winds of about 147 kt, with SFMR values of 140-145 kt, and a central pressure of about 917 mb. A blend of all these data leads to an initial wind speed of 140 kt, making Iota a category 5 hurricane, the latest category 5 on record for the Atlantic basin. A little more strengthening is possible today with fairly light shear and warm waters before Iota makes landfall tonight. Rapid weakening is anticipated over central America, and Iota should dissipate in a couple of days.
This is a catastrophic situation unfolding for northeastern Nicaragua with an extreme storm surge of 15-20 ft forecast along with destructive winds and potentially 30 inches of rainfall, and it is exacerbated by the fact that it should make landfall in almost the exact same location that category 4 Hurricane Eta did about two weeks ago.
So the pressure is slightly lower, 917 and the official winds are 160mph expected to increase to 165mph at the next advisory, but recent satellite imagery shows that the intensity may have peaked.
end UPDATE
Life in Honduras was already unbearable before the hurricanes for thousands of people seeking refuge from extreme violence, poverty and oppression. Life there will now be untenable for many thousands more and they may be forced to migrate in the middle of a pandemic but first, they will need to survive. Getting food and clean water to people isolated by flooding, landslides and destroyed infrastructure would be a challenge under the best of times. With the lack of American leadership by Donald Trump’s failed administration these poor people will be on their own. Much of central America is a disaster area now but with a quarter of a million U.S. citizens dead of Covid-19 we are barely able to care for ourselves. We can’t even wear masks to protect our families and communities. What happened to us? My God how we have fallen.