A mature environment before Etta will allow it to strengthen quickly, intensifying into a strong Type 1 hurricane before the landslide. Excessive rainfall from this system could lead to flash floods and river flooding in Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and parts of Central America.
They will be closely monitored after Thursday as Etta’s trail and intensity are uncertain.
This is the first time the name Etta has been used for a storm.
Storms are named alphabetically, except for names beginning with the letters Q, U, X, Y or Z. Since one season is exceptionally busy, more than 21 named storms in a season are used in the Greek alphabet.
Despite the same number of named storms in 2005, it did not reach the Etta name that year because the NHC raised the total for the season to 28 because it was decided that a storm should be named after the end of the season, but not CNN meteorologist Tyler Maddlin. So, Etta was technically never announced that season.
