Lisa becomes a hurricane...

After nearly 10 full days as a Tropical Storm, Lisa was finally upgraded
to a minimal hurricane at 21Z today, the 8th of the season.  This
upgrade was based solely on satellite appearance, which has become more
symmetric and convective the past few hours.  Current position is 38.4N
45.1W and tracking NE at 19kts.  She will soon become a strong
extratropical cyclone and that will be the end of this long-lived
storm.  Intensity is estimated at 65kts and 987mb, but should quickly
deteriorate as she heads north.

In terms of NTC (Net Tropical Cyclone activity), 2004 has now beat 1961,
1933, and 1995 with a value of 222.3%.  The years remaining in second
place are 1926 (229%) and in first place 1950 (230%).  But the key to
remember is that there are still two more months until the hurricane
season offically ends, so the all-time NTC record could fall this year.

Please visit my tropical Atlantic headquarters.