Morning all. No surprises with Zeta...it appears that Zeta is tilted vertically by the shear. The center of the LLC appears to be just exposed, but still connected to the small central area of convection which can also be seen to spin in tandem with it, just to the east. All the remaining convection is pushed to the NE, and most of the LLC is exposed. After a little WNW movement last night, it appears that Zeta is almost stationary. I think the lack of movement west has helped extend Zeta's lifetime a bit.

Last night you could see on the upper level wind diagram that the winds were diverging a bit just to the west of Zeta. This morning's discussion reads in part:

ZETA HAS FOUND A RELATIVELY SOFT SPOT BETWEEN STRONG SHEAR TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE CYCLONE...BUT STRONGER WESTERLIES LIE AHEAD AND THIS FLOW WILL CONTINUE TO POUND AWAY AT ZETA.

I have a feeling that the remaining convection will go very quickly, as happened with Epsilon, as soon as the westerlies really hit, but with a strong well-organized low and mid level circulation, and continued convection being fueled by the shear, Zeta is hanging in there today.

HF--have a funny msg for you, check your PMs

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Oh, and, Happy New Year, everyone! I didn't think about Dec 31st, when I coined the 2005 season "SOBR," but it is the one legitimate night of the year we can go out and tie one on and recollect (or forget, whichever one prefers) the past seven months. However I've heard from a reliable source that mets...oh well never mind.