Hurricane Iota was the second-most powerful November tropical cyclone on record in the Atlantic basin, behind only the 1932 Cuba hurricane. It was also the strongest and most intense hurricane of the hyperactive 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. At the end of October, a tropical wave emerged off Africa and traversed the Atlantic Ocean with little note. The system later impacted northern South America and the Lesser Antilles before becoming more organized, eventually becoming a tropical depression on November 13 over the Caribbean Sea. Initially stymied by adverse environmental conditions the system, which soon became Tropical Storm Iota, struggled to organize as it took an atypical southwest track. After developing a small, well-organized core, Iota entered region exceptionally favorable for