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Louisiana braces again for yet another storm

Perspective on 2020 hurricane season that just won’t quit

Tropical Storm Zeta the latest to impact Cajun country this hurricane season. (wjxt)

It seems like déjà vu, but for Louisianans, the reality of another hurricane strike is all too real as Hurricane Zeta tracks toward a landfall near New Orleans on Wednesday evening.

Zeta is taking an almost identical path as Hurricane Delta that hit the state in the first week of October.

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This is the second most active Atlantic hurricane season on record, behind only the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and the second time to reach the end of the Greek letter naming system.

So far, there have been 27 named storms, 11 hurricanes, and 4 major hurricanes.

A record number of named storms hit the United States this year and Zeta is expected to become the 11th after Bertha, Cristobal, Fay, Hanna, Isaias, Laura, Marco, Sally, Beta and Delta.

Five of those tropical cyclones resulted in the National Hurricane Center’s track cone getting centered over Cajun country for an overwhelming three weeks in 2020.

Hurricane season started early.

Tropical Storm Arthur developed in mid-May, marking the sixth consecutive season with a tropical or subtropical cyclone before the official June 1 start date.

Eight days later, Tropical Storm Bertha rapidly developed east of Florida as a short-lived off-season tropical storm that impacted the eastern U.S. coast.

Record-breaking 5th landfall for Louisiana

When Zeta makes landfall in the Pelican State it will be a record for the most landfalls in Louisiana since four hit the state during the 2002 season.

Louisiana’s bad luck started with Cristobal becoming the second-earliest tropical cyclone to make landfall in Louisiana.

Then came Hurricane Marco -- the first of two tropical cyclones to threaten the state within a three-day period. The second was Category 4 Hurricane Laura, the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in Louisiana since a hurricane in 1856 -- before storms were given names.

Tropical Storm Beta was an omen for more trouble ahead. It struck Texas first on Sept. 22 but moved on to soak Louisiana.

Hurricane Delta was the record-tying fourth named storm of 2020 to strike Louisiana, as well as the record-breaking tenth named storm to strike the United States

It threatened the same area affected by Hurricane Laura a little over one month earlier.

Although storm frequency slows down in November 2020 isn’t done yet. Hurricane season official runs through November and we could see postseason storms as late as December reminiscent of Epsilon and Zeta which also occurred the last time the Greek alphabet was utilized in 2005.


About the Author
Mark Collins headshot

After covering the weather from every corner of Florida and doing marine research in the Gulf, Mark Collins settled in Jacksonville to forecast weather for The First Coast.

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