Tropical Storm Epsilon petered out over the Atlantic on Thursday, perhaps bringing an end to the record-breaking hurricane season more than a week late.
“It’s about time,” the National Hurricane Center in Miami wrote in its final advisory for the storm.
Epsilon was the 26th named storm and 14th hurricane of the record-breaking Atlantic storm season, which officially ended Nov. 30 after a ruinous run that included Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Epsilon never threatened land.
Epsilon reached hurricane strength of 74 mph or more last Friday, was downgraded Sunday to a tropical storm, then unexpectedly became a hurricane again. On Thursday, its winds were blowing at 35 mph, below the 39 mph threshold for a tropical storm.
It will not strengthen again, hurricane specialist James Franklin said.
At 10 a.m. ET, Epsilon was centered about 1,115 miles southwest of the Azores.
Epsilon was only the fifth hurricane to form in December in more than 150 years of record-keeping.