Epsilon roars into a hurricane

(An update to my 30 November post)

Today Epsilon strengthened into a very-late-season hurricane, the 14th of 2005. That means that 54% of the named systems this year became hurricanes. The 30-yr average is somewhere around 62%. I wonder why - in this acutely active season - we are technically below average for hurricane formation? (yes, I know, you could argue statistical insignificance ... I didnt do a t-test or anything). My theory is that "average" is calculated from a period where we (probably) missed some tropical storms, or classified some strong tropical storms as weak hurricanes, when they really remained just below the threshold. This classification ambiguity - I believe - directly results from significant changes in observational technology over the last 100 years. I have applied for NSF funding to test such a theory.

**EDIT**
As of Thu 8 Dec 1500Z, Epsilon - and almost certainly the 2005 season - has come to an end. Quite a season. Stay tuned for more thoughts.