Hurricane Iota Was Second Category 4 Landfall in Nicaragua; 13 Days After Eta (RECAP)

Hurricane Iota, the second Category 4 landfall in less than two weeks in Central America, unleashed destructive winds, more inundating rain and storm surge in storm-weary Nicaragua, Honduras, and neighboring countries.

(MORE: Iota Tears Off Roofs, Floods Roads)

Iota made landfall with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph at 10:40 p.m. EST on Nov. 16 near the town of Haulover, Nicaragua, or about 30 miles south of Puerto Cabezas, the National Hurricane Center said. The landfall location of Iota was just 15 miles south of where Hurricane Eta made landfall as a Category 4 on Nov. 3.

Winds of 124 mph and damaged roofs were reported in Wilbi, Nicaragua, according to the National Hurricane Center.

Puerto Cabezas Airport in northern Nicaragua clocked a wind gust to 113 mph as Iota was making landfall.

Video posted in social media showed roofs being ripped off some homes and buildings in Puerto Cabezas.

Heavy damage was also reported on the Colombian islands of Providencia and Santa Catalina, east of the Nicaraguan coast, which took a battering from the eyewall of Iota as it was at Category 4 intensity.

It was estimated 98% of the infrastructure on Providencia, including the island's hospital and buildings that had stood since the 15th century, was destroyed. Eighty percent of homes on the island were destroyed with the other 20 percent extensively damaged, according to the NHC report.

A storm surge of at least 26 feet was estimated near Haulover, Nicaragua, as Iota made landfall, which ended up splitting the barrier island Haulover was located on in two, according to the NHC's final report.

Flooding rainfall and mudslides were the biggest dangers for Central America, including areas that were devastated by Hurricane Eta's heavy rain earlier in the month.

Parts of eastern Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, and Costa Rica picked up 6 to 12 inches of rain from Iota. Las Vegas, Guatemala, measured 20.08 inches, according to the NHC.

Flooding was also triggered in parts of Nicaragua, including in the nation's capital city, Managua. Over 6.5 inches of rain fell in 24 hours at Augusto Cesar Sandino International Airport east of downtown Managua.

According to the NHC report, 67 were killed directly from Iota, 17 lost their lives in Iota's aftermath, and 41 were still missing in the Caribbean and Central America.

Iota was born as Tropical Depression Thirty-One on Nov. 13, then became a record-setting 30th named storm of the 2020 hurricane season later that afternoon.

Iota strengthened into a hurricane on Nov. 15 as it tracked through the southwest Caribbean.

Maximum sustained winds in Iota then jumped from 80 mph to 155 mph in the 24 hours ending 7 a.m. EST on Nov. 16. That easily met the criteria for the rapid intensification of a tropical cyclone, which is an increase in maximum sustained winds of at least 35 mph in 24 hours or less.

The NHC report noted Iota's central pressure plummeted 80 millibars in 42 hours, a rate of intensification exceeded only by Hurricanes Wilma (105 millibars in 42 hours) and Rita (93 millibars in 42 hours) in 2005.

Iota was the 10th storm of the 2020 season to meet the criterion for rapid intensification. This tied 1995 for the most such rapid intensifiers in any single season since 1979, according to Tomer Burg, an atmospheric science Ph.D. student at the University of Oklahoma.

While Iota was categorized as a Category 5 hurricane on Nov. 16, an in-depth post-analysis by the NHC concluded Iota's peak intensity was a tad lower, at 155 mph, due to research suggesting measurements from an instrument known as a stepped frequency microwave radiometer may too high in such intense hurricanes as Iota.

Thus, the 1932 Cuba hurricane remains the only Atlantic Basin hurricane to reach Category 5 intensity in November.

Iota's Nicaragua landfall marked the first time on record two major hurricanes - Category 3 or stronger - have made landfall in the country during the same hurricane season, much less only about two weeks apart. NOAA's hurricane database only documented seven such Category 3-plus landfalls in Nicaragua prior from the mid-19th century through 2019.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.