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Tropical Storm Alpha Becomes 22nd Atlantic Storm, Setting Record for Most Storms in a Season

MIAMI Oct 22, 2005 — Tropical Storm Alpha formed Saturday in the Caribbean, setting the record for the most number of storms in an Atlantic hurricane season, forecasters said.

Alpha is the season's 22nd tropical storm and marks the first time a letter from the Greek alphabet has been used because the list of storm names is used up. The previous record of 21 storms stood since 1933.

At 5 p.m. EDT, the storm had sustained winds of about 40 mph. Its was moving northwest at about 15 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

A tropical storm warning was in place for Haiti and parts of the Dominican Republic, and a tropical storm watch was in effect for the Turks and Caicos islands and the southeastern Bahamas.

Forecasters say the frantic hurricane season is part of an increase in storm activity that started in 1995 and is expected to last at least another 10 years.

ABC News

The NHC has sucked badly this year.
Its not particularly looked upon as good to say it, but they have often lagged badly in forecasting.

They have consistantly underplayed the strength of storms,

*I (along with many other weather watchers) have been watching 'Alpha' since Wednesday. Clearly, the NHC took 4 more days to 'accept' that it existed.
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As for Alpha, its expected to get close to Wilma to the east of Florida sometime next week.

Alpha, Beta, Gamma. Yes, I expect two more named storms yet.

Calrissian: Not greek