Hurricane Zeta Recap

Zeta strengthened into a hurricane on the afternoon of Oct. 26, 2020, as it tracked toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. It then made landfall later that night to the north of Tulum, Mexico, at 11:10 p.m. CDT as a Category 1.

Playa del Carmen reported a wind gust to 87 mph, and a gust to 79 mph was clocked in Cancun.

Land interaction weakened Zeta into a tropical storm as it moved into the Gulf of Mexico on Oct. 27, 2020. Zeta began to reorganize later that evening amid low wind shear and warm sea-surface temperatures.

The reorganization of Zeta quickly escalated on Oct. 28, 2020, and it regained hurricane strength early that morning. From there, Zeta rapidly intensified into a Category 2 with 110 mph winds on its way to landfall near Cocodrie, Louisiana, on Terrebonne Bay at 4 p.m. CDT.

Maximum sustained winds in Zeta increased from 75 mph to 110 mph in just 14 hours leading up to landfall, which easily meets the meteorological criteria for the rapid intensification of a tropical cyclone.

Zeta was downgraded to a tropical storm over Alabama early Oct. 29, 2020, and then was declared post-tropical early that afternoon when it reached Virginia.

Zeta's Impacts

When Zeta made landfall a 105 mph wind gust was recorded at a personal weather station in Golden Meadow, Louisiana. Grand Isle, Louisiana, clocked a wind gust to 87 mph.

Zeta socked New Orleans with 90+ mph wind gusts on the evening of Oct. 28. A wind gust to 112 mph was reported at Bayou Bienvenue as the eyewall punched through the New Orleans metro.

Farther east, a wind gust of 91 mph was reported in Mobile, Alabama, and a gust of 101 mph was recorded in Gulfport, Mississippi.

A maximum storm of 9 to 10 feet was measured at a USGS gauge in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

Water levels on the lakeshore in New Orleans rose by two feet as the wind direction changed on the backside of the eye.

More than 4 feet of storm surge piled up on the western side of Lake Pontchartrain near LaPlace as Zeta's eyewall pushed the lake westward.

Downtown Mobile was inundated by storm surge near the convention center on Zeta's east side.

Farther inland, winds gusted over 50 mph in some parts of central and southern Alabama, northern Georgia, upstate South Carolina and North Carolina as Zeta raced through on Oct. 29. Some localized areas saw gusts in excess of 60 mph.

Widespread power outages were reported along the path of Zeta in the South, from Louisiana into parts of the Carolinas. At one point, power outages numbered well over 2 million.

(MORE: Zeta Knocks Out Power to More Than 2 Million)

There were also numerous reports of damaged or downed trees along Zeta's path through the South. You can see photos of Zeta's damage in the slideshow below.

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