MERIDA Yucatan (CONAGUA) – The National Coordination of Civil Protection issued a yellow alert for several municipalities in Quintana Roo and Yucatan, where heavy rains are expected. Currently, maximum sustained winds of 110 km/h are recorded; the storm will likely continue to strengthen to become a hurricane before making land this Monday in the Yucatan peninsula.
Tropical Storm ZETA continues to strengthen in the western Caribbean, now with maximum sustained winds of 110 km/h. It is located 340 km SE of Cozumel, Mexico.
Tormenta Tropical ZETA continúa fortaleciéndose en el Caribe occidental; ahora con vientos máximos sostenidos de 110 km/h. Se ubica a 340 km al SE de Cozumel, México. Pudiera convertirse en el undécimo huracán de la temporada 2020 mientras avanza hacia la península de Yucatán pic.twitter.com/ZJ3Rh92QHu
— Luis Vargas (@Meteovargas) October 26, 2020
It could become the eleventh hurricane of the 2020 season as it moves toward the Yucatan Peninsula.
More storms in 2020
Each year, the National Water Commission (Conagua), which operates the National Meteorological Service (SMN), forecasts the number of tropical storms and hurricanes in the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean.
Last March, Conagua stated that this year, the hurricane season would be more active and predicted between 15 and 18 tropical cyclones in the Pacific Ocean, while 15 to 19 were expected in the Atlantic Ocean. Although forecasts do not guarantee the number of tropical cyclones that will occur and this year, there was much higher activity than initially expected, which was already a high forecast.
No more names this year.
Since the beginning of the year, hurricanes start being named by UN specialists in alphabetical order, alternating male and female names. Names beginning with q, u, x, y, or z are excluded because they are uncommon. Also, the lists are reused every six years, so it is common for names to be repeated from time to time. The only way the terms can be removed from the list depends on the impact they have had. If a hurricane was very devastating, like Andrew, Gilbert, Katrina or Patricia, scientists remove that name and replace it with another one.
This year, a list of 21 names was made ending with Wilfred, which was formed two weeks ago, thus ending the names listed for this year. When the names listed by the UN are finished in a single hurricane season, the next tropical cyclones will begin to take the characters from the Greek alphabet, which until today have been Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Zeta (ζήτα).
According to meteorologists from the United States, the first time in history that something like this happened was in 2005 and had not happened until now.
