Tropical Storm Zeta expected to strengthen into hurricane and make landfall on Gulf Coast - CBS News

The 2020 hurricane season continues to overachieve, as tropical storm Zeta gets stronger over the Western Caribbean.

The storm is expected to become a hurricane on Monday, taking a track similar to Hurricane Delta, striking near Cancun and then heading towards the Northern Gulf Coast.

Zeta is the 27th named system of the 2020 season, which is running over a month ahead of the record pace set back in 2005.

That puts 2020 well on track to either tie or break the all-time record for the number of named storms in the Atlantic in one season.

The 27th named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season.

By Monday, the official forecast from the National Hurricane Center predicts Zeta will be a low-end hurricane, but it is not expected to be nearly as strong as Hurricane Delta just weeks ago!

The National Hurricane Center's forecast cone shows landfall anywhere between southeast Louisiana and the western Florida Panhandle.

As of Sunday night, it appears Zeta will be a strong tropical storm or possibly a very low-end hurricane at landfall.

The 2020 season is the 5th season in a row with far above normal storm activity — the normal is 12 named storms.

In the Atlantic Ocean, the chance that any given storm will be at major hurricane intensity (Category 3,4 or 5) is now twice as likely than it was in the 1980s, showing just how influential warmer ocean waters can be