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All storm pages · 2020 Atlantic season

Hurricane Eta 2020

Category 4 hurricane · Atlantic · October 31 to November 13, 2020

Eta has landfall records in 3 different places: Nicaragua, Cuba and Florida. It came ashore in Nicaragua as a Category 4 hurricane on November 3, 2020, with 140 mph winds. Its winds climbed 80 mph in the 24 hours to November 3. The name Eta is on the National Hurricane Center's list of retired Atlantic hurricane names.

Track of Eta (2020) from the best-track record, coloured by strength20°N30°N90°W80°W70°W60°WJacksonvilleNicaragua, 140 mphCuba, 65 mphFlorida, 65 mphPeak 150 mphFirst recordNot tropicalDepressionTropical stormCategory 1Category 2Category 400 and 12 UTCLandfall

Strength over time

Maximum sustained wind of Eta (2020) over time, in mphTSCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 4Cat 504080120160Nov 1Nov 3Nov 5Nov 7Nov 9Nov 11Nov 13mph
  1. First record (tropical depression) 220 miles south-southwest of Pedernales, the Dominican Republic
  2. Tropical storm 230 miles south of Les Cayes, Sud, Haiti
  3. Hurricane 185 miles north-northeast of San Andrés, Colombia
  4. Major hurricane 105 miles east-northeast of Bilwi, Atlántico Norte, Nicaragua
  5. Peak, 150 mph 60 miles east-northeast of Bilwi, Atlántico Norte, Nicaragua; lowest pressure 922 mb
  6. Landfall Nicaragua
  7. Landfall Cuba: tropical storm, 65 mph, 991 mb
  8. Landfall Florida: tropical storm, 65 mph, 993 mb
  9. Landfall Florida: tropical storm, 50 mph, 996 mb
  10. No longer tropical (extratropical low) 130 miles east-southeast of Jacksonville, North Carolina
  11. Last record 345 miles northwest of Hamilton, Bermuda

Against every Atlantic storm since 1851

Peak sustained wind150 mph · tied 57th of 1,98830 mph190 mph
Lowest central pressure922 mb · tied 31st of 1,277882 mb1016 mb
Accumulated cyclone energy18.2 · 280th of 1,7520.173.6
Days as a tropical or subtropical cyclone12.5 days · tied 112th of 1,9880.0 days31.8 days

In the 2020 season

04080120160Eta

Storm 29 of 31 in 2020, hurricane 13 of 14; it formed after Zeta and before Theta. Eta produced 10% of the season's accumulated cyclone energy and ranks joint second by peak wind. See the season.

Places the center passed

The center came within 50 miles of at least 8 towns or cities of 10,000 people or more while the system was tropical. Distances are to the interpolated track line, not the storm's edge.

PlaceClosestWind thenDate
Jacksonville, Florida9 mi40 mphNovember 12
Gainesville, Florida10 mi45 mphNovember 12
Bilwi, Atlántico Norte, Nicaragua18 mi140 mphNovember 3
Brunswick, Georgia20 mi40 mphNovember 12
Ciego de Ávila, Cuba21 mi60 mphNovember 8
Sancti Spíritus, Cuba23 mi65 mphNovember 8
Morón, Ciego de Ávila, Cuba25 mi60 mphNovember 8
Caibarién, Villa Clara, Cuba27 mi60 mphNovember 8

Every storm within 50 miles of Jacksonville, Florida

Similar landfalls in Nicaragua

Storms whose strongest landfall record in Nicaragua came closest to Eta's 140 mph:

All 27 storms with a landfall record in Nicaragua

Also peaked at 150 mph

Of 26 storms from other Atlantic seasons, the nearest in time:

  • Ida (2021)929 mb, landfall in Cuba
  • Florence (2018)937 mb, landfall in North Carolina
  • Franklin (2023)926 mb, landfall in Dominican Republic
  • Kirk (2024)928 mb, no landfall record