Early Sunday morning, Oct. 25, the center of now Tropical Storm Zeta was located over the northwestern Caribbean Sea about 305 miles south-southeast of the western tip of Cuba.
A turn toward the west-northwest and an increase in forward speed are forecast by Monday, Oct. 26, followed by a faster northwestward motion on Tuesday, Oct. 27, the National Hurricane Center said.
It has maximum sustained winds of near 40 miles per hour with higher gusts.
Zeta is forecast to approach the Gulf Coast as a tropical storm before intensifying into a hurricane on Tuesday night, and Wednesday, Oct. 28, according to the National Hurricane Center, and it could bring storm surge, rainfall affecting Lousiana to the Florida Panhandle.
Zeta is the earliest named 27th Atlantic storm in what has been a historically active hurricane season.
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