Tropical Storm Beta forms in the Caribbean.

[Maddy McCall]

MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Beta formed Thursday in the southwestern Caribbean Sea, extending this year's record of named storms in the Atlantic hurricane season.

snip/

At 5 a.m. EDT, it was located about 75 miles south of San Andres Island and about 140 miles east-southeast of Bluefields, Nicaragua. A hurricane watch and a tropical storm warning has been issued for the islands of San Andres and Providencia. Heavy rain and strong winds were expected there Thursday.

A tropical storm warning has been issued for the entire Caribbean coast of Nicaragua and adjacent islands. Hurricane conditions are possible in the next several days, forecasters said.

Its maximum sustained winds were near 40 mph and was moving northwest near 5 mph. Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 35 mph. Beta is expected to produce 10 to 15 inches of rain across western Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, forecasters said.

more at: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ats-ap_us13oct27,0,22214.story?coll=ny-leadnationalnews-headlines


http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT26/refresh/AL2605W5+gif/090717W_sm.gif

[ixion]

1. thanks to the early cold snap

the US probably won't be seeing this one as a hurricane, although it's too soon to call.

[arcos]

2. It is now expected to make landfall as a cat 1 hurricane...

I think I'll have a very, very wet weekend.

[benito]

3. I hope both you and

Paulo Wanchope make it through the weekend unscathed!

[arcos]

12. hahaha...

Well, I believe he is in Qatar, so that won't be affected... and I'm in San José, so I don't expect to have much problems, just lots and lots of rain.

Thank you! :hi:

[tex-wyo-dem]

4. Tropical Storm Beta gathering force off Nicaragua

Here we go again...

Tropical Storm Beta gathering force off Nicaragua
27 Oct 2005 13:30:57 GMT
Source: Reuters

MIAMI, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Beta formed off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua on Thursday and was forecast to strengthen into a hurricane and drench Central America with potentially flooding rain, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Storm alerts were posted for the Nicaraguan coast and the adjacent islands. Forecasters said the storm could dump 15 inches (38 cm) of rain on western Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua, with isolated amounts up to 20 inches (51 cm).

At 8 a.m. (1200 GMT), Beta had top sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was about 135 miles (220 km) east-southeast of Bluefields, Nicaragua.

The storm was moving slowly northwest at four mph (six kph) in the warm Caribbean and was expected to strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane, with top winds of at least 74 mph (119 kph), before moving over the Nicaraguan coast by Saturday.

<snip>

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N2724828.htm

[beyurslf]

5. Doesn't it seem so weird to have a "B" when it is the end of Oct.

[phantom power]

6. Greek is their fall-back sequence: Alpha, Beta, Gamma...

[beyurslf]

9. How many letters do they use from this? And what happens if one

of these is a really bad storm and they need to "retire" the name like they do for other letters?

[Endangered Specie]

17. That is a good question...

I guess that, if say Hurricane Delta is "retired" then next year they will go alpha, beta, gamma,(skip), epsilon.

I would not be suprised if they decide to either, add more names or have two sets of regular names to go through next year.

Personally, I think it would have been better just to start using next years list instead

[phantom power]

7. Sounds similar to their predictions for Wilma.

Right before we all woke up the next morning to find out it was Cat-5.

[tex-wyo-dem]

8. Yes, it's forming in generally the same area with very warm water...

to charge up the storm.

[highplainsdem]

10. Yes, it does.

[strategery blunder]

14. From Dr. Jeff Masters' weatherblog...

There are no provisions for what to do in the event we have to retire Beta's name and replace it on the list of hurricane names. One possibility is that the storm will be dubbed Beta-2005 and the name Beta will be reused. Another possibilty is that Beta will be skipped over next time the Greek alphabet comes into use.

He says Cat 3 is a possibility.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/show.html

[Lisa]

16. my guess is that people would be using Alpha or Beta 2005 anyway ...

... if we have to use those Greek letters in coming years. It doesn't add much extra length to the name, and it does emphasize how unusual things are.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

11. So what happens if the Greek alphabet is exhausted? Chinese? (nt)

[Ezlivin]

13. We switch to the Klingon alphabet

And those storms will seriously kick ass.

[A Simple Game]

15. Thanks for the chuckle. n/t

[Endangered Specie]

18. There are several options...

I think they should just start using next years list when they run out, instead of this alpha beta mess.