A tropical wave and a mid-level trough led to a disturbed weather ares in the southwest Caribbean Sea on October 19th. A
surface trough formed on the 20th which was coincident with deep convection in the area. A broad surface low formed to the north
near the Yucatan Peninsula within a sheared environment. The trough in the southwest Caribbean drifted north, and by the 22nd was
southwest of Jamaica. Drifting west-northwest, the disturbance developed to the south of Grand Cayman as a broad low pressure
area on the 23rd. By the morning of the 24th, the low became well-defined and a tropical depression formed just soutwest of
Grand Cayman. The depression turned west-southwest due to a building high pressure system over the Gulf of Mexico. Zeta became
a tropical storm that evening. Drifting erratically west to west-northwest, Zeta strengthened into a hurricane on the 26th
200 miles southeast of Cozumel. As the high strengthened to the north, the hurricane picked up the pace to the west-northwest.
Zeta made landfall near Ciudad Chemuyil, Mexico on the evening of the 26th. Weakening to a tropical storm over land, Zeta emerged
into the southern Gulf of Mexico on the 27th. A closed low over the Southwest U.S. began to move eastward, sending a cold front
in Zeta's direction. Zeta turned northwest and north in response, regaining hurricane intensity in the southern Gulf. As it began
to accelerate ahead of the front towards the central U.S. Gulf coast, Zeta strengthened quickly and became a major hurricane upon
landfall near Cocodrie, Louisiana during the late afternoon of the 28th. The eye cross New Orleans, and the hurricane moved
into southern Mississippi and Alabama before regaining tropical storm status early on the 29th. Racing northeast, Zeta became an
extratropical/post-tropical cyclone which over central Virginia on the 29th and moved into the western north Atlantic on the 30th
before dampening out.
The graphics below show the storm total rainfall for Zeta, which used rain gage information from the National Weather
Service River Forecast Centers, Forecast Offices, and CoCoRAHS.
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