One more storm added to 2005
It's the hurricane season that wouldn't die. Continuing re-analysis of the data from the 2005 Hurricane Season in the Atlantic Basin has turned up yet another Atlantic storm that reached tropical-storm force, with peak winds of 51 mph. It's too late to give the storm a name, but they're referring to it as "Subtropical storm (unnamed)." For an explanation of what a "subtropical storm" is, click here.
The National Hurricane Center says the storm formed as a low-pressure center west of the Canary Islands on Sept. 28. It generated some convection and became a subtropical depression on Oct. 4, then quickly grew to tropical storm force (sustained winds of 39 mph) in the eastern Azores the same day. Winds peaked at 45 knots (51 mph).
The storm lasted only 12 to 18 hours before being absorbed into an approaching cold front on Oct. 5. Its remains were then absorbed in a non-tropical low that days later grew to become Hurricane Vince. (Vince was a freak - the first Atlantic hurricane known to have gone ashore in Spain and Portugal.)
Not much to write home about, perhaps, but Subtropical Storm Unnamed brings the 2005 season to 28 storms of tropical-storm force, which further buries the former record of 21, set in 1933. Of those, 15 became hurricanes, busting the previous record of 12 set in 1969.
There are six weeks to go before the start of the 2006 season. The National Hurricane Center will release its seasonal forecast on May 22. NHC Director Max Mayfield was at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab yesterday to talk about severe weather. He wouldn't preview the center's 2006 predictions, but made it clear we should expect another above-average season.
"I think a lot of people would say we could never have the damage and deaths like last season. I'm here to convince people otherwise. Believe me, it could have been a lot worse," he said.
Meanwhile, Colorado State University forecaster Bill Gray has already predicted a busy season, with 17 named storms, including 9 hurricanes.
So, how are those levee repairs coming along?
