Subject: Dec 4 and storms brought to you by the letter O

[senorpepr]

Another name down... Odette. If the unimaginable happens, which with a season like this -- it's possible, Peter would be the next name. Changes are, the next name will used during the summer of 2004. That name would be Alex. Nonetheless... here's the data for Dec 4 and "O" named storms.

Below is a breakdown of what storms were active on Dec 4 between 1995 and 2003. (Note: storm numbers in parenthesis had been finalled out by NHC prior to Dec 4) If applicable, there is a listing of what date the "O" storm developed on. At the end the list is the 30 year average ('74-'03).

Please Note: The start dates of the O-storm are when these systems were tropical depressions.

Active Storms on December 4, followed by the date the O-storm formed.

03: 20; Dec 4
02: (14); n/a
01: 17; Nov 24
00: (18); n/a
99: (16); n/a
98: (14); n/a
97: (8); n/a
96: (13); n/a
95: (21); Sep 27
====
Average TD on Dec 4: 10.73 ('03: above average by 9.27 TDs)
Average Date for O-storm*: Oct 26 ('03: behind schedule by 39 days)

* O-storm occurred 6.67% of the time in the past 30 years.

Note: The following "30-yr averages" encompass the years 2002-1973

TS YTD vs 30yr Seasonal Average: 15 vs 9.80 (+5.20)
HR YTD vs 30yr Seasonal Average: 6 vs 5.77 (+0.23)
Major HR YTD vs 30yr Seasonal Average: 3 vs 2.13 (+0.87)

[senorpepr]

I forgot to mention, although it has been said a few times in other messages, Hurricane Lili was the only storm within the past 30 years to occur later than today. (Dec 12-24, 1984)

[Hurricanehink]

Nice information. It's organized well, though we are behind over a month for the O storm! That's just because of the early Opal, I know. Now on to Peter

[senorpepr]

Thanks! Yeah, this late in the season this data is mostly garbled. Hopefully next year I'll have a better system for this data.