Bahamas News

Tropical storm Zeta has formed in the Atlantic Ocean – a month after the official hurricane season came to an end.

Zeta is the 27th storm recorded in what was an already record-breaking season.

According to an Associated Press report, the storm formed in the eastern Atlantic yesterday about 1,000miles south-southwest of the Azores islands.

At 5 pm yesterday the storm had maximum sustained winds near 50 mph with more powerful gusts and was moving northwest near 7 mph. Tropical force winds extend outward up to 85 miles.

The report quotes National Hurricane Centre forecaster Martin Nelson as saying that Zeta is not likely to threaten land.

We believe this will be simply a problem for maritime interested, he said.

Forecasters expect the storm to begin weakening today, but are not ruling out the possibility that it will strengthen.

Said the report: Zeta is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet, which forecasters turned to after they used up – for the first time – their list of 21 proper names for storms. The record for tropical storms and hurricanes is a season had been 21, set in 1933 before such storms were regularly named.

According to Mr Nelson, it is not certain if December 30 is the latest date for the formation of a tropical storm in the Atlantic.

Earlier this month, Hurricane Epsilon became the fifth-ever hurricane to form in December in 154 years o record-keeping.

Hurricane Alice, the latest developing hurricane on record lasted from December 30, 1954 until January 5, 1955, Mr Nelson said.

There were 14 hurricanes recorded in the 2005 Atlantic storm season, which officially ended on November 30.

Said the AP report: Forecasters have said that hurricane seasons are going to be more active than usual for at least another decade – and possibly as long as 50 years.

Courtesy of the Tribune