New storm Zeta a hurricane threat to Mexico, US Gulf Coast

Photo: NOAA

Newly formed Tropical Storm Zeta gradually strengthened Sunday in the western Caribbean. Forecasters said it would likely become a hurricane before hitting Mexico's resort-dotted Yucatan Peninsula and the U.S. Gulf Coast in coming days.

Zeta was the earliest named 27th Atlantic storm recorded in an already historic hurricane season.

The system was centred about 260 miles southeast of Cozumel late Sunday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

The storm was nearly stationary, though forecasters said it was likely to shear the northeastern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula or westernmost Cuba by late Monday or early Tuesday and then close in on the U.S. Gulf Coast by Wednesday, but could weaken by then.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph, and forecasters said Zeta was expected to intensify into a hurricane Monday.

Officials in Quintana Roo state, the location of Cancun and other resorts, said they were watching the storm. They reported nearly 60,000 tourists in the state as of midweek. The state government said 71 shelters were being readied for tourists or residents who might need them.

The government is still handing out aid, including sheet roofing, to Yucatan residents hit by Hurricane Delta and Tropical Storm Gamma earlier this month.

Zeta may dawdle in the western Caribbean for another day or so, trapped between two strong high pressure systems to the east and west. It can’t move north or south because nothing is moving there either, said University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy.

“It just has to sit and wait for a day or so,” McNoldy said. “It just needs anything to move.”