MIAMI – Tropical Storm Zeta slightly gained strength early Tuesday as it moved westward over the central Atlantic, but it posed no threat to land, forecasters said.
The 27th named storm of the record-breaking 2005 hurricane season had top sustained wind near 65 mph, up from 50 mph one day earlier, according to the National Hurricane Center.
At 10 a.m. EST, the storm was centered about 1,395 miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands and was moving west-southwest near 5 mph.
The storm developed Friday, about a month after the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season officially ended. It tied a record for the latest developing storm since record keeping began in 1851.
The 2005 season featured 14 hurricanes, including Katrina, which devastated Louisiana and Mississippi in August and became the most costly disaster in U.S. history. The season also exhausted forecasters' list of 21 proper names, requiring them to use the Greek alphabet to name storms for the first time.
Before Zeta, Hurricane Epsilon became only the fifth hurricane to form in December in 154 years of record keeping.
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