Welcome to another edition of our weekly weather newsletter! Coming into hurricane season, we knew we’d have plenty of storms to talk about. No one could have predicted how many storms we’d end up getting, as we’re right on the doorstep for the record in the Atlantic basin.
Right now, 2020 is tied with 2005 at 28 total storms. You might remember that we didn’t get to “Eta” during 2005, but the National Hurricane Center (NHC) added an unnamed storm to the record books after the season. So with Eta this year, the two extremely active seasons are neck and neck.
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To be frank, Eta has been a weird storm. It’s already made three landfalls: in Nicaragua, Cuba and the Florida Keys. It’s been as strong as a Category 4 hurricane and as weak as a tropical depression. Its track so far really doesn’t make much sense and there’s uncertainty about where it’s going.
All you really need to know about Eta is that it will send tropical moisture our way, combining with a cold front to soak us Wednesday and Thursday. We’re projecting 1-3″ of rain and there could be a localized flooding threat.
We’ve said numerous times this hurricane season that we hope the current storm will be the last. If you look at the record books, we typically see the tropics get turned off in November. The yellow line on the graph below indicates where we are in the season right now. Compare that to the historical activity during August, September and October!
As we know, 2020 is anything but typical. It’s likely that we’ll see one or even two new storms develop over the next five days, bringing this year over the finish line ahead of 2005 for the most storms on record.
NHC has one eye on a system in the deep Atlantic and the other on a potential Caribbean system. I would say the one in the deep Atlantic is less interesting to us because it’s moving east and away from the United States. The one in the Caribbean is worth watching since it’s taking the same path as storms like Delta, Zeta and Eta.
The next two names on the list this year are “Theta” and “Iota.” Again, if we get to Theta, it will be a record-breaking season. 2020, am I right?!
You can always get specific forecast details for your zone, whether it’s the Roanoke Valley, the New River Valley, Highlands or elsewhere around Southwest and Central Virginia, anytime at WSLS.com/weather. Know your zone!
In case you missed it, we’re posting great weather content on WSLS.com. Here are a few links from the past week to check out:
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-- Justin McKee