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Hurricane Delta was the record-tying fourth named storm of 2020 to make landfall in Louisiana, as well as the record-breaking tenth named storm to strike the United States in that year.

Meteorological history
Hurricane Delta originated from a tropical wave that departed off the west coast of Africa on September 26, 2020. It lacked deep atmospheric convection as it trekked across the tropical eastern Atlantic. With time, showers and thunderstorms began to increase within the wave, although no distinct circulation center was detected. Early on October 1, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) began to monitor the tropical wave moving into the Eastern Caribbean for potential tropical cyclogenesis. As the system moved across the Lesser Antilles, thunderstorm activity fluctuated, inhibited from development by moderate vertical wind shear and dry air intrusion. At 18:00 UTC on October 4, analysis of satellite imagery and scatterometer data found a well-defined circulation center sustaining adequately-organized deep convection, marking the formation of Tropical Depression Twenty-Six about 90 nmi south of Kingston, Jamaica. Convection continued to increase after formation, but was initially confined to the southern portion of the circulation due to northerly wind shear. Once the shear lessened on October 5, convection became more symmetric around the center, and the system strengthened to become Tropical Storm Delta by 12:00 UTC that day about 130 nmi south-southwest of Montego Bay, Jamaica.

While accelerating west-northwestward over the Western Caribbean along a building subtropical ridge to its north and northeast, Delta commenced a phase of rapid intensification over ideal environmental conditions encompassing warm seas, low wind shear, and high levels of moisture aloft, becoming a Category 1 hurricane 12 hours after being named. As it finally began to turn northwestward early on October 6, Delta reached Category 2 status just nine hours later at 09:00 UTC, before becoming a Category 3 major hurricane three hours later at 12:00 UTC. Delta's intensification was described as the fastest in a 24-hour period since Hurricane Wilma of 2005. The storm was characterized as a very symmetric and compact system as a pinhole eye began to form. At 15:20 UTC, an NOAA hurricane Hunter aircraft indicated that the storm's 1-minute sustained wind speed was at 130 mph, making Delta a Category 4 hurricane. Delta intensified from a tropical depression to Category 4 hurricane in just over 36 hours, breaking the record of 42 hours that Hurricane Keith set in 2000. Measured at 4 nmi in width, the eye was slightly larger than the smallest eye ever observed in Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Delta attained its peak intensity by 18:00 UTC with maximum sustained winds of 120 kn and a barometric pressure of 953 mbar. Delta had intensified by 90 kn in over 36 hours, which only four other tropical cyclones had been able to achieve since the satellite era. At this time, Delta exhibited its pinhole eye surrounded by very intense deep convection. Its pressure was unusually high for a storm this strong, which indicated that Delta's circulation did not extend as far into the upper troposphere as would be expected for a storm of its intensity. Additionally, the storm's eye was barely visible on visible satellite imagery, although it was seen on microwave images. Delta did not keep this intensity for very long as an increase in mid-level wind shear and dry air entrainment significantly disrupted Delta's small core, and the storm abruptly weakened with its banding features becoming less defined and its eye completely disappearing. The storm accelerated northwestward and at around 05:45 UTC on October 7, made landfall at Puerto Morelos, Quintana Roo, Mexico, as a high-end Category 2 storm with winds of 110 mph. It subsequently weakened some more as it moved over the Yucatán Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 1 hurricane. The storm remained well-organized throughout its passage over the peninsula, situating over conducive atmospheric and oceanic conditions; as such, Delta again intensified.

Satellite imagery revealed a central dense overcast as the system gradually intensifies into a Category 2 hurricane at 06:00 UTC of October 8. Delta steadily became more organized, with an eye occasionally becoming evident on satellite imagery and a lowering minimum central pressure as it turned northward ahead of an approaching trough to its northwest. Delta regained Category 3 status by 18:00 UTC about 200 nmi south of the Texas–Louisiana border. Early on October 9, Delta attained its secondary peak intensity with sustained winds of 105 kn and a central pressure of 953 mbar. The storm held the intensity overnight until an increase of southwesterly wind shear and a decrease in ocean heat weakened it over the northern Gulf of Mexico into a Category 2 hurricane at 18:00 UTC. As an asymmetrical storm, Delta made another landfall near Creole, Louisiana at 23:00 UTC with winds of 85 kn. After that, Delta began to weaken more rapidly, dropping to Category 1 status an hour after landfall at 00:00 UTC on October 10 and a tropical storm six hours later. It accelerated northeastward and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone over Western Mississippi by 18:00 UTC. The system continued to weaken and its circulation broadened through the day on October 11, and by 00:00 on October 12, it opened into a trough of low pressure over the southeastern United States.