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Delta, the 25 ^th named storm of the 2020 hurricane season is expected to become a Category 3 storm on Tuesday with winds of about 120-mph and strike the U.S. Gulf Coast by the end of this week.

Delta formed early Monday morning south of Jamaica in the Caribbean and was classified as a hurricane by the National Hurricane Center by Monday night.

In an advisory issued on Monday night, the National Hurricane Center noted that the storm had sustained winds of 75-mph, which had rapidly intensified 30-mph in just nine hours.

The 25 ^th hurricane of the season is six full weeks ahead of the record pace number of storms that occurred in 2005. That hurricane season there were 28 tropical systems.

Nearly two months still remain in this year’s season, which already looks like a record breaker. 2020 marks only the second hurricane season ever to run out of names, requiring the use of the Greek alphabet to give monikers to developing storms for the rest of this season.

Delta formed after the creation of Tropical Storm Gamma, which is about 600 miles northwest of Delta, near Cancun, Mexico. Gamma is predicted to continue to weaken, as Delta becomes a major storm in the Caribbean.

Harsh upper level winds known as wind shear had prohibited Delta from forming until they lessened later on Monday. As a result, Delta is quickly evolving into an organized storm as thunderstorms arise and circle the center of the low-pressure system.

So, Delta is strengthening and that is expected to continue through Wednesday as the storm travels northwest near Cancun before plowing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Computer models and real-time data, implies that strengthening will continue through Tuesday night. The phenomenon of strengthening hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean has become common due to warmer water temperatures due to global warming.

Forecasters say that the hurricane will be maintaining winds of about 120-mph on Wednesday and could possibly get stronger.

The current development of Delta resembles Hurricane Wilma, which formed in October 2005. To this day, Wilma is considered the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record with a barometric pressure of 882 millibars. Wilma broke records for rapid intensification with its barometric pressure dropping nearly 100 milibars in 24-hours and strengthening from a tropical storm with 70-mph winds to a Category 5 storm with winds of 185-mph in just 36 hours.

Forecasters say that it would not be surprising if Delta experiences rapid intensification and becomes a stronger hurricane than originally predicted. However, it is not expected that the storm will achieve the intensifications experienced by Wilma.

Delta is forecast to achieve peak strength on Wednesday and Thursday as it moves into the central Gulf of Mexico. It is then expected that wind shear will develop on top of the system and inhibit the intensity of the storm.

As a result, the storm is expected to weaken before making landfall on Friday. Landfall is predicted for a cone of certainty that includes the Louisiana coast east to mobile, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida.

Whenever Delta makes landfall, it will be the 10 ^th tropical cyclone to make landfall along the U.S. coast this hurricane season, the most on record in the Atlantic.

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