Marine Hurricane/Typhoon — Breton Sound, Gulf of Mexico

2020-10-28 · Breton Sound, Gulf of Mexico

Event narrative

The Bay Waveland Yacht Club (WYCM6) anemometer measured a peak gust of 90 knots. The Weatherflow anemometer on Ship Island measured a peak wind gust of 75 knots. The anemometer on Petit Bois measured a peak wind gust of 67 knots.

Wider weather episode

A tropical depression formed in the northwestern Caribbean on the afternoon of October 24th. 9 hours later, it became the twenty-seventh named storm and eleventh hurricane of the exceptionally active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. After meandering virtually in the same place, it finally began moving northwest and slowly strengthening before making its first landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula on October 26th. Zeta exited the Yucantan Peninsula weaker but still a strong tropical storm. The path of the storm began shifting from northwest to northeast, and heading straight towards Louisiana. In terms of intensity, Zeta slowly but steadily strengthened from this point all the way up until landfall. It reached the highest wind speed possible of a Category 2 storm, 110 mph. Hurricane Zeta caused approximately $1billion worth of damage.

Zeta was the record-tying sixth hurricane to make landfall in the United States and the record fifth named storm to strike Louisiana in 2020.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 926641. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.