Tropical Storm Zeta Forms in Atlantic By ADRIAN SAINZ, Associated Press Writer
document.write(getElapsed("20051230T222324Z")); 2 hours agoUPDATED 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES AGO
MIAMI - In a surprising but nonthreatening curtain call to the Atlantic's busiest-ever hurricane season, Tropical Storm Zeta formed in the open ocean Friday, trying a record for the latest-developing named storm.
Although the National Hurricane Center said Zeta wasn't forecast to become a hurricane or threaten land, Zeta's development was significant because it came a month after the official Nov. 30 end to the unprecedented season.
The season brought a record 14 hurricanes, including Hurricane Katrina, which devastated Louisiana and Mississippi in August, killing more than 1,300 people in the most costly disaster in U.S. history. Forecasters exhausted their list of 21 proper names and began using the Greek alphabet to name storms for the first time.
Zeta _ the 27th named storm of the season and the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet _ was located about 1,065 miles southwest of the Azores, the National Hurricane Center reported at 4 p.m. EST Friday. Zeta had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph and was moving northwest near 7 mph.
Since record keeping began in 1851, only one other named storm has formed as late as Zeta, said Greg Romano, a National Weather Service spokesman. Tropical Storm Alice developed Dec. 30, 1954, and later became a hurricane before dissipating Jan. 5. Tropical storms develop when their winds exceed 39 mph, and hurricanes form when their winds exceed 74 mph.
Earlier this month, Hurricane Epsilon became only the fifth hurricane to form in December in 154 years of record keeping _ though Romano said some storms could have fallen through the cracks before technology such as satellites was available to help find and track tropical systems.
Forecasters have said that hurricane seasons are going to be more active than usual for at least another decade.
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Here, I found this- but I had not heard or read this yet:
LONDON, England -- Heavy snow and freezing conditions continued to disrupt travel across Europe on Thursday amid warnings that more severe weather is on the way.
In the Czech Republic, the main airport at Prague-Ruzyne was partly closed on Thursday morning with planes unable to take off following further snow overnight.
However, the airport had resumed full operations by 12.30 p.m. (1130 GMT), a spokeswoman for Airport Prague told Reuters.
Four trucks were also involved in a collision on the main highway between Prague and Brno on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported.
In the UK, overnight temperatures dropped to minus 10.8 Celsius (14 Fahrenheit) in some parts of northern England, with the Met Office issuing severe weather warnings for parts of eastern England and Scotland.
"We have some more severe weather on its way, pushing in from the west. That will spread across the country tonight," a Met Office spokesman told Reuters, advising that freezing fog was expected to add to travelers' problems.
Up to 0.3 meters (12 inches) of snow has already fallen in parts of eastern and southeastern England, causing delays and cancellations across the railway network and preventing many commuters from returning to work after the Christmas break.
"I get annoyed when it's leaves on the line or a smattering of snow and frost but frankly this looks more like the Trans-Siberian Railway," city banker Tony Pascall told The Times of London newspaper on Wednesday morning.
In southern England, police closed roads in Kent and Sussex after snow showers while sports fixtures and racing meetings were cancelled, Reuters said.
Guillermo Arduino at CNN's International Weather Center said that Thursday could be the coldest day of the spell so far in the UK and described the forecast for the next few days as "grim."
In northern France hundreds of motorists were forced to spend the night in community centers and hotels near Nancy as road crews battled to clear snow from the roads.
A highway in the Calvados region of Normandy was also closed in both directions because of snow, while France's border with Italy remained closed until mid-afternoon, AP said.
National weather forecaster Metro-France issued an "orange alert" across northern and western areas of the country until Friday, Le Figaro newspaper reported.
In Austria, more than 300 homes were left without power in the Vienna region as snow knocked out power lines and caused dozens of road accidents, AP reported.
A driver was killed when his car slid into a tree in icy conditions in Mistelbach while authorities said that at least 11 trucks had jack-knifed on the highways.
Snow-covered roads were also closed elsewhere across Europe, from the Netherlands and Germany to Croatia and northern Italy.
The snowstorms were due to hit parts of Scandinavia on Thursday, AP said. Authorities were warning drivers to expect slippery road, poor visibility and strong winds.
