The 14th named tropical cyclone of the Atlantic hurricane season, Tropical Storm Nate, has formed about a thousand miles east of Florida. It is expected to recurve out to sea, and thus should not be a threat to the United States. Bermuda needs to keep a close eye on it, though.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Maria continues to churn up the open Atlantic. It is now a major hurricane, the fourth of the season (following in the footsteps of Dennis, Emily and Katrina), with 115 mph winds as of 10:00 PM EST. But it’s no threat to land, thank goodness.
In a typical hurricane season, there are 10 named tropical cyclones, 6 of which become hurricanes and 3 of which become major hurricanes. So far this year, we’ve had 14, 5 and 4, respectively — and the climatological peak of the season is still five days away! (We’ve also had three tropical storms that made it right to the cusp of hurricane intensity, 70 mph, but never quite broke through.)
We’re now five days ahead of the record pace set in 1933, when the season’s 14th tropical storm formed on Sept. 10 (which happens to be the aforementioned peak day). An all-time record 21 storms formed that year. We are also three weeks ahead of 1995’s pace. That year, 19 tropical storms formed — making it the second-most-active season ever — and the “N” storm, Noel, didn’t form until September 26. We got all the way to “Tanya” that year, the furthest down the name list we’ve ever gotten. (Tropical storms were not named in 1933.)
There are only 21 names on the Atlantic hurricane name list, because Q, U, X, Y and Z are skipped. The record-tying 21st tropical storm would be Wilma. If a record-breaking 22nd tropical storm forms, we’d start using the Greek alphabet: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc.
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Categories: 2005 Hurricane Season
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September 5th, 2005 at 11:38:40 pm
Hurricanes hurricanes tropical storms tsunamis earthquakes . . . when are we going to hear more about the endtimes . . . I hope we dont get to the Greek alphabet, except of course when it comes to naming fraternities.
September 5th, 2005 at 11:43:45 pm
I hope we dont get to the Greek alphabet
I just hope there aren’t a whole bunch of Greek-alphabet storms developing at once, such that Alpha and Omega end up existing at the same time. If that happens, THEN we’ll definitely need to talk about the End Times. :)
September 5th, 2005 at 11:44:27 pm
SEE THE POST BELOW. IT IS EXCELLENT AND SHOULD BE SAVED FOR WHEN HILLARY GETS HER KATRINA COMMISSION. DID YOU NOTICE SHE IS ALREADY DEMANDING ONE, AND THE WEEK IS HARDLY OUT. NOTHING LIKE THE SAME PREDICATBLE POLICITIANS BREATHING MORE POLITICAL RHETORIC INTO A TRUE TRADEGY. VERY DISAPPOINTING. HOW LONG WILL IT BE BEFORE THE DEMOCRATS RENEW THEIR ATTACKS ON ROBERTS - BEFORE OR AFTER HIS MENTOR IS LAID TO REST WEDNESDAY? WE’LL SEE I GUESS.
According to this article, written the day BEFORE the hurricane hit, the reason that NOLA had a mandatory evacuation was because BUSH CALLED the governer and personally appealed for the order.
“The mayor called the order unprecedented and said anyone who could leave the city should. He exempted hotels from the evacuation order because airlines had already cancelled all flights.
“Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding.”
http://www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?base/news-18/1125239940201382.xml&storylist=louisiana
What the heck would Blanco and Nagin have done if Bush hadn’t called?
September 5th, 2005 at 11:46:10 pm
Brendan, you are very smart and right on top of things. You knew where I was going with the comment on end times - alpha and omega. I am glad you bring intelligence and wit to your site. Very Rehnquist-isc.
May 24th, 2006 at 5:44:55 am
when will a hurricane be named becky or rebecca??