mighty close. i don't know if the decayed trough was enough to exclude it. if post-analysis puts it up as subtropical storm 16, the life span will be extremely short. it's elongation today and extratropical appearance will probably be followed by another occlusion and the southwestward drive, but the little donut hole of favorable u/a conditions is pretty much gone now... all the thing really had was a 12-18 hr run where it may have satisfied the criteria. if i had to bet on the nhc's future actions, i'd guess it will remain an extratropical system in post-analysis.
nice little footnote to end 2007 on.
HF 1716z30december