Tropical storm Eta forms, ties record for most named storms in single Atlantic season

Tropical storm Eta formed in the Caribbean late Saturday, tying the record for most named storms in a single Atlantic hurricane season.

The system reached maximum sustained winds of 65 km/hlate Saturday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. It's centred 435 kilometressoutheast of Kingston, Jamaica.

Forecasters expect Eta to become a hurricane by Monday. The system is forecast to be near the northeastern coasts of Nicaragua and Honduras by Monday night. A hurricane watch was issued for parts of both countries. Eta was moving west at about 24 km/h.

Eta is the 28th named Atlantic storm this season, tying the 2005 record for named storms. However, this is the first time the Greek letter Eta is being used as a storm name; in 2005, after the season ended, meteorologists went back and determined there was a storm that should have gotten a namebut didn't.

Hurricane season still has a month to go, ending Nov. 30. And in 2005, Zeta formed in the end of December.