the confirmed toll from the south asian tsunami is around 80000 right now and climbing. i was fairly sure it would be five figures at first, but wasn't expecting it to get near six. seem to recall someone posting a study of the la palma volcano study earlier this year on the forum.. pray nothing like this happens in the atlantic.
the last three tropical cyclone reports came out right before christmas.. on frances, ivan, and nicole.
no notable changes or new information were post analyzed on frances or nicole's tracks (a little surprising with nicole, as it's extratropical phase before 10 october does merit best track data). ivan however had it's terminal track to the alabama coast revised, with the maximum winds at landfall adjusted to 105kt. there is also official data on it's extratropical and redevelopment phase.
2004 is closing out. after years of lucky misses the charmed life florida had been living since the mid 60s (minus 1992) came crashing down. at least the chances that 2005 will be similarly awful are statistically low.
we'll be ready here at cfhc, whatever comes of it.
HF 0445z30december