On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 07:20:01 -0400, "Reginald P. Smithers III"
wrote:

Yes, and the next thing you know we'll be seeing another well
researched article showing that the number of tropical storms has
doubled.

Wayne,
From what I can tell, the current definition of tropical storm goes
back to at least 1992, and probably is older. It describes a type of
storm, and the intensity of the storm and includes storms that develop
in the Tropics or the Subtropics. While the conditions are greatest for
a Tropical Storm to originate in the Tropics, it is not limited to the
Tropics.

I understand that. My point I guess, if I really had one, is that
NOAA does seem to be stretching a bit on some of these calls. I
believe that was SW Tom's point as well. It's not entirely irrelevant
either. By way of example, my insurance policy on the Grand Banks has
a clause whereby the deductible doubles for damage caused by a "named"
storm.

There was in fact a study released within the last week which
purported to show that the number of Atlantic hurricanes has doubled
in the last 100 years. Although that is possible, it seems much more
likely that vastly improved detection methodology is responsible for
much of the increase. Thanks to satellite technology virtually no
weather disturbance goes undetected these days.