MIAMI, Dec 30: Yet another tropical storm formed in the Atlantic on Friday, one month after the official end of the year’s record-smashing hurricane season, forecasters said.

Tropical Storm Zeta developed in the eastern Atlantic, about 1,600 kilometres south-southwest of the Azores, the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre reported.

The extended hurricane season in the Atlantic has broken several records, with 27 tropical storms, 14 of which became hurricanes.

For the first time since authorities started keeping tabs in 1851, three hurricanes ranked at the topmost category five on the Saffir-Simpson intensity scale, with sustained winds of 280 kilometres per hour, hit the region.

One of those, Wilma, which hit Florida in Oct, became the most intense Atlantic hurricane, with its central pressure falling to 882 millibars. The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to Nov 30.—AFP