Hurricane Epsilon (2005)
Tropical Storm Epsilon developed out from an extratropical storm in the central Atlantic Ocean on November 29 that had slowly gained tropical characteristics similar to Tropical Storm Delta. It was far east from Bermuda at the time and never would get close to land. Epsilon steadily strengthened into a strong tropical storm before it weakened a little bit on December 1. The official forecasts from the National Hurricane Center predicted Epsilon would weaken further in the highly unfavoritable environment before becoming an extratropical system again. Unexpectedly, Tropical Storm Epsilon strengthened again on December 2 and became a hurricane over cooler waters about 21–24 °C (70–75 °F) with continuing wind shear; which are the conditions that are highly unfavorable for a regular tropical cyclone. The official forecasts continued to predict weakening and dissipation but Epsilon did not follow the forecaster's predictions, and remained at hurricane strength for several more days. At one point on December 4 it was thought that Epsilon had weakened into a tropical storm for a short time, but later post-analysis showed that Epsilon had never weakened at all. Hurricane Epsilon then strengthened further to its peak intensity of 85 mph (135 km/h) just several hours later.