President George W Bush: Polluter of the free world

Tropical Storm Zeta formed on Friday and is currently located about 1060 miles southwest of the Azores. Zeta is the 27th named storm and ties Alice (1954) for the latest forming Atlantic Basin tropical storm on record. Zeta is moving west at 5 mph with maximum sustained winds of near 60 mph. Most of the convection associated with Zeta is located near and east of the center. The storm is no threat to land and is mainly a marine interest.

The amazing 2005 Atlantic hurricane season has shattered many long-standing records, chief among them a record number of named storms, twenty-seven, which has obliterated the previous record of twenty-one in 1933. There also have been 14 hurricanes so far this season breaking the old record of 12 set in 1969. Another record set was for the most category-five hurricanes, three, with Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Wilma became the strongest hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin with a pressure of 882 mb breaking the old record set by Gilbert (888 mb) in 1988. Katrina likely will be the costliest U.S. hurricane on record. Also, the final seasonal tally for damage will be the greatest in U.S. history, breaking the previous record set just last year. The landfall of four major hurricanes in the U.S. also set a record.