Another tropical storm, Epsilon, forms in Atlantic

MIAMI - Just when the Atlantic hurricane season was supposed to end, Tropical Storm Epsilon formed in the central Atlantic but posed no immediate threat to land, US weather forecasters said.

Epsilon, named after the fifth letter in the Greek alphabet, was the 26th named storm of a record-breaking season and was around 1360km east of Bermuda by 10am EST (4.00am NZT) the US National Hurricane Centre said.

The storm bore maximum sustained winds of 75km/h and was moving westward at 13km/h, the Miami-based centre said. It was not expected to reach hurricane strength, with winds of at least 119km/h.

The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which officially ends today, has been a record-breaker in several ways.

It has seen the most storms on record, beating the previous record of 21 named storms set in 1933. It has scored the most hurricanes at 13, beating the previous record of 12 set in 1969.

It has also seen the most Category 5 hurricanes, the top-ranked storms on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane activity.

Of the 3 Category 5 storms this year, Katrina devastated New Orleans and killed over 1200 in Louisiana and Mississippi, Rita pounded the Texas-Louisiana border and Wilma briefly became the most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record before ravaging the Mexican resort area around Cancun.

Epsilon followed closely on the heels of Tropical Storm Delta, which left hundreds of thousands without power in Spain's Canary Islands yesterday and killed seven in and around the popular tourist destination before dissipating over Morocco.

The last five named cyclones of the season have been named after letters in the Greek alphabet because the official list of storm names for 2005 was exhausted.

- REUTERS