The season that just won't go away

Graphic courtesy of AccuWeather:

2007 sure has been a weird year. Before the season officially got underway we had a bunch of activity with subtropical storms and tropical waves as early as May. The season itself was nothing to worry about - basically a non event that I will summarize up - I haven't forgotten, just really busy. Now here we are 2 weeks before Christmas and a storm wants to form in the western Atlantic. And there is nothing to stop it - water temperatures are still high and the wind shear has finally died down. It'll be interesting to see if this amounts to anything.

UPDATE:

This disturbance intensified intensified into subtropical storm Olga a couple of days ago. Olga dumped a bunch of rain on the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

SANTIAGO, Dominican Republic (Dec. 12) - Tropical Storm Olga triggered floods and landslides in this Caribbean nation Wednesday, killing at least eight people in the Dominican Republic and in Puerto Rico and forcing thousands to flee their homes.

This freak storm caused a lot of destruction at a very unusual time for tropical systems. It is not unheard of to have a storm this late in the year, just unusual. This entire year has been rather odd with storms before the start of the season and now storms after the season was over but otherwise a fairly average year.

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Atlantic SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT

000
WONT41 KNHC 092158
DSAAT
SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENT
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
500 PM EST SUN DEC 9 2007

AN AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAS BECOME BETTER ORGANIZED
TODAY ABOUT 550 MILES EAST-NORTHEAST OF PUERTO RICO...IN
ASSOCIATION WITH A SHARP SURFACE TROUGH AND A LARGE UPPER-LEVEL
LOW. THE SYSTEM IS ALREADY PRODUCING GALE FORCE WINDS...MAINLY TO
THE NORTH AND NORTHEAST OF THE MAIN AREA OF THUNDERSTORMS. THE
SURFACE TROUGH HAS BEEN MOVING WESTWARD AT ABOUT 15 TO 20 MPH...AND
THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE OVER THE NEXT DAY OR
TWO. WATER TEMPERATURES ARE STILL WARM ENOUGH IN THIS AREA TO
SUPPORT TROPICAL CYCLONE FORMATION...AND UPPER-LEVEL WINDS ARE NOT
ESPECIALLY PROHIBITIVE FOR DEVELOPMENT. THIS SYSTEM HAS THE
POTENTIAL TO BECOME A TROPICAL OR SUBTROPICAL STORM DURING THE NEXT
24 HOURS...AND INTERESTS IN THE NORTHERN LEEWARD ISLANDS...THE
VIRGIN ISLANDS...PUERTO RICO...HISPANIOLA...AND THE EASTERN BAHAMAS
SHOULD MONITOR THE PROGRESS OF THIS SYSTEM.

FURTHER SPECIAL TROPICAL DISTURBANCE STATEMENTS WILL BE ISSUED AS
NECESSARY. FOR INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...CONSULT
STATEMENTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

$$
FORECASTER FRANKLIN