Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you TROPICAL STORM ZETA!

[Walt Starr]

Atlantic SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT

000
WONT41 KNHC 301605
DSAAT
SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
1100 AM EST FRI DEC 30 2005

SATELLITE IMAGERY INDICATES THAT AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE IN THE
EASTERN ATLANTIC HAS DEVELOPED INTO A TROPICAL STORM ABOUT 1000
MILES SOUTH-SOUTHWEST OF THE AZORES. A SPECIAL ADVISORY ON
TROPICAL STORM ZETA IS IN PREPARATION AND WILL BE ISSUED IN AN HOUR
OR SO.

FORECASTER FRANKLIN

$$




A Tropical Storm on DECEMBER 30!!

[ixion]

1. wow

:wow:

That's, well, that's just not right. :scared:

[Walt Starr]

3. I don't think there has ever been a Tropical Storm on December 30

Wow is right.

[stop the bleeding]

5. there has been storms and hurricanes in December but not very

often.

...Epsilon survived into December, becoming the 14th hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic season. Epsilon would go on to be the longest lasting December hurricane on record in the Atlantic. It is rare to have a hurricane in December with only 6 hurricanes on record since 1851. Epsilon would tie hurricane Nicole of 1998 as the second strongest December hurricane. The strongest hurricane on record for December was Hurricane #2 in 1921.

http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical/

[Walt Starr]

14. Tropical Storm Otto last year started on Nov 26 ended on Dec 5.

Tropical Storm Peter from 2003 ran from December 7-11. Odette that year ran Dec 4-9.

Hurricane Olga in 2001 ran from November 23 to December 4.

In 1998, Hurricane Nicole ran from November 24 - December 5.

In 1989, Tropical Storm Karen ran from November 28 - December 4

In 1984, Hurricane Lili ran from December 12 - December 24.

In 1954, Hurricane Alice2 Ran from Decmeber 30 - January 6 1955. Had to go back more than fifty years to find one. There were only 11 Tropical or greater storms that year.

[stop the bleeding]

16. Crazy huh??? I guess us Floridian's will have to dig out our Hurricane

supplies because the season looks to be starting 6 months early.

Global Warming?!?!?!?

[Walt Starr]

20. 14 total tropical or stronger storms in December since 1851.

Only the 1954 hurricane started as late.

There has never been one that started in January. something to watch this year, huh?

[Lisa]

28. thanks for all the info!

I had been meaning to look up stats on late-December storms. This answers my question!

And as for January -- I too am curious to see if we get one of those next month.

[Catherine Vincent]

2. LOL!

[xchrom]

4. be warned -- this admins meterologists will try to tell you

that this is just a cycle -- nothing to do with glaobal warming -- er -- um global CLIMATE CHANGE.

[sybylla]

6. How often do we get through the alphabet twice in one season?

To have a "Zeta" has to be a pretty rare event all by itself.

[stop the bleeding]

8. Zeta is not the last letter of the alphabet it is more like the 6th,

I am not a 100% sure - but I think the last letter would be Omega

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_alphabet

[Fredda Weinberg]

9. alpha 2 omega

yup ... zeta is #6

http://www.physlink.com/Reference/GreekAlphabet.cfm

[sybylla]

25. My bad!

Greek is about the only language I didn't take. That will teach me to make assumptions.

[malaise]

7. Damn

I guess there's no gobal warming Bushie!!

[SillyGoose]

10. Wow! So what alphabet do we use if another one forms after Zeta?

:scared:

[stop the bleeding]

13. SillyGoose - Zeta is only the 6th letter in the Greek alpha - your

thinking of Omega

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_alphabet

[SillyGoose]

19. Thanks for that...I was freaking for a minute there! nt

[Lisa]

29. Eta ... then Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda ...

I memorized the Greek alphabet, as a teenager, because I was interested in astronomy back then (they use it to label the stars in constellations, e.g. Alpha Centauri). I never thought it would come in handy for meteorology.

And if they have to extend the hurricane season into the winter months -- you aren't going to be the only one freaking! You can bet that all the atmospheric scientists and disaster planning people will be, too!

[RubyDuby in GA]

11. But "global warming" is just junk science

Move along people, there's nothing to see here. This is all part of the norm, now finish up that kool-aid.

Idiots. Anyone who can't see that the earth is trying to kill us all for what has been done to is is an absolute moran!

[deminks]

12. K&R. Amazing. nt

[Walt Starr]

15. Wouldn't it be weird if TS Alberto hits in January?

I would not be surprised if it happened, though.

[meganmonkey]

17. Link to Dr. Master's Tropical Blog:

Looks like he'll be updating as needed...

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/show.html

[stop the bleeding]

18. thanks I visit his updates about as often as one can when the season is

raging, looks like I will have to dust off the link to this one.

[SW FL Dem]

21. Unfriggin believable

Will this season ever end?

[Walt Starr]

22. Here's a lsit of all December storms since 1851

1878 - Tropical Storm #12 (25 NOV-02 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 60



1887 - Hurricane #17 (27 NOV-04 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 70 Category: 1



1887 - Hurricane #18 (04-10 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 70 Category: 1



1887 - Tropical Storm #19 (07-12 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 50



1888 - Hurricane #9 (17 NOV-02 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 85 Category: 2



1953 - Tropical Storm #14 (07-09 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 35



1954 - Hurricane ALICE2 (30 DEC-06 JAN)
Storm - Max Winds: 70 Min Pres: 1007 Category: 1



1984 - Hurricane LILI (12-24 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 70 Min Pres: 980 Category: 1



1989 - Tropical Storm KAREN (28 NOV-04 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 50 Min Pres: 1000



1998 - Hurricane NICOLE (24 NOV-02 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 75 Min Pres: 979 Category: 1



2001 - Hurricane OLGA (23 NOV-04 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 80 Min Pres: 973 Category: 1



2003 - Tropical Storm ODETTE (04-09 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 55 Min Pres: 993



2003 - Tropical Storm PETER (07-11 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 60 Min Pres: 990



2004 - Tropical Storm OTTO (26 NOV-05 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 45 Min Pres: 995



2005 - Hurricane EPSILON (29 NOV-08 DEC)
Storm - Max Winds: 75 Min Pres: 979 Category: 1



2005 - Tropical Storm ZETA 930 DEC - ?)

[jus_the_facts]

23. more info here....

http://flhurricane.com/cyclone/stormspotlight.php?year=2005&storm=25

The 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season continues to surprise and amaze. In conjunction with a persistent upper-level low in the eastern Atlantic, a surface low developed yesterday and quickly became organized this morning and early afternoon, resulting in the development of the season's 27th named storm of the season, Zeta. Only one other storm that I can recall -- "Alice2" of 1954 -- formed this late in the year, lasting into January 1955; of course, there are likely others in or out of the database as well. Zeta is also the season's 6th Greek named storm and, in a punny twist of fate, is often used by meteorologists as the symbol to represent vorticity -- or, as Jim Cantore puts it, spin -- a feature which tropical cyclones certainly have a lot of.

Zeta formed in a somewhat peculiar manner, with elements of Vince, Delta, and Epsilon (location), elements of some of this season's western Atlantic storms (enhancement by an upper-level low), and perhaps even elements of pure tropical development (convection fires within a mid-level feature, spins up a low-level circulation, convection dies out, the circulation organizes, and we get a tropical disturbance out of it). We'll watch it as we head into the new year -- needless to say, Zeta will almost assuredly be the last named storm of the 2005 season.

More coming soon.
http://flhurricane.com

[Lisa]

30. "quickly became organized ..." -- I don't like the sound of that ...

Not because I'm inherently lazy and disorganize myself (although I am!) -- but if these disturbances are gaining strength in a matter of hours, it suggests that there's still plenty of energy out there in the form of high sea surface temperatures.

I really hope that the prediction of it being "the last named storm of the 2005 season" will be correct. Otherwise we might have to start re-defining what a hurricane "season" is (start and finish, etc.).

[Walt Starr]

24. On top of that, GD breaks the news SIX MINUTES BEFORE LBN

My post timestampted at 10:35, LBN is timestampted at 10:41:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2013002

GD is on top of things!

:evilgrin:

[Walt Starr]

26. Shameless kick

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

27. Holy Crap, Has There Ever Been A T.S. That Was Current In January?

That is really messed up. I couldn't believe it when I just saw your header!