Hurricane Eta, Category 4 Storm, to Make Landfall in Nicaragua!

All eyes are tonight on category four hurricane, Eta, which exploded quickly into a dangerous hurricane packing maximum sustained winds of between one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty miles per hour. Eta is projected to make landfall in Nicaragua on Tuesday and continue moving toward to the Gulf of Honduras with a reduced force. The government of  Nicaragua has declared a red alert for areas along the coast and immediately inland   This year the season has been described as a dangerously active hurricane season with some twenty-eight named storms to date, twelve of which developed into hurricanes and there is still a month left in the season. This afternoon, News Five got the latest update from Chief Meteorologist Ronald Gordon who says that the entire country of Belize will experience inclement weather, but more so in the south.

Ronald Gordon

Ronald Gordon, Chief Meteorologist

“Hurricane Eta intensified into a major hurricane this afternoon. The latest position as of midday local time, the storm was centred near latitude 14.7 degree north and longitude 82.0 degrees west and that puts it about eighty-five east of the Nicaragua/Honduras border and about four hundred and fifty miles east south east of Belize City. Eta was moving at nine miles per hour with maximum sustained winds of one hundred and twenty miles per hour, a category three hurricane. The forecast for Eta in the short term is for it to continue moving on a west south western track tonight and then eventually make landfall over Nicaragua on Tuesday as a major hurricane, possibly a category four. When the system makes landfall it will go over the mountainous terrain of Nicaragua and Honduras and track generally to the west and then west north west and then there is the possibility that it may emerge into the Gulf of Honduras about Friday or so. The system is forecasted to weaken significantly once it is impacted by land. And we are talking about rugged, mountainous terrain and if it does emerges into the Gulf of Honduras, as some models are indicating, it will be a very weak system; worst case scenario a tropical depression, but likely  a remnant low.  Impacts on Belize, the major threat from this system is heavy rainfall. The rains are starting already and those are a result of the outer bands of Eta and we expect those to continue throughout the week. Rains are going to peak around Wednesday and Thursday; that’s when we are going to get the heaviest amount of rainfall and accumulation in that five-day period of so, we are expecting ten to twenty inches of rainfall with possible higher amount, especially over the south.”