Tropical depression 31 became Tropical Storm Iota Friday evening in the western Caribbean Sea on a path to the Nicaraguan coast. It is a worrisome forecast for Central America as the storm is expected to increase wind by another 80mph during the next 3 days becoming a major hurricane on a nearly identical track to Hurricane Eta that killed hundreds in the same area.
This is the 30th named storm in a record bustling hurricane season. In a normal Atlantic hurricane season, about 12 named storms form with six of them becoming hurricanes.
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At 10 p.m. Friday, the system has 40 mph winds and light winds aloft or low shear should favor rapid growth into a major hurricane before landfall in Central America.
The center of Tropical Storm Iota was located near latitude 13.6 North, longitude 74.2 West. Iota is moving toward the south-southwest near 3 mph (6 km/h), and this motion is expected to continue through early Saturday. A westward to west-northwestward motion at a slightly faster forward speed is expected to begin by late Saturday and continue through Monday. On the forecast track, Iota will move across the central Caribbean Sea during the next day or so, and approach the coasts of Nicaragua and northeastern Honduras late Sunday and Monday.
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 105 miles (165 km) from the center.
The estimated minimum central pressure is 1006 mb (29.71 inches).