MIAMI, Florida – NOAA’s National Hurricane Center issued a Public Advisory at 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, due to the presence of Hurricane Iota that made landfall on Nicaragua as a Category 5 hurricane and is expected to produce catastrophic flooding and landslides in Central America.

Hurricane Iota Projected Path

Hurricane Iota is located about 135 miles east of Tegucigalpa, Nicaragua, and is moving to the west at 12 mph (19 km/h).

On the official NHC forecast track, Iota will move farther inland across northern Nicaragua today and move across southern Honduras tonight before dissipating near El Salvador early Wednesday.

Hurricane Iota Computer Models

Computer models are in good agreement on a westward heading.

Hurricane Iota Category Strength

Hurricane Iota has maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 km/h), with higher gusts.

Since landfall, Iota has weakened from a Category 5 to a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.

Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 15 miles (30 km) from the center of the tropical cyclone and tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 175 miles (280 km).

Hurricane Iota Watches and Warnings

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from Bluefields, Nicaragua to the Guatemala/Honduras border; and the Bay Islands.

September 10 was the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season where tropical cyclone activity significantly increases. But hurricane season can still remain at an increased level of activity through the first half of November, according to NOAA and the National Weather Service’s historical data.

NOAA and Colorado State University forecast an “extremely active” 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season which runs from June 1 through November 30.