Now today, when they thought they could take a nice break, pick up some champagne for the huge New Years bash they through at the offices in Miami, here comes -- should we even tempt fate by declaring this the last tropical storm of the season? Yes, on December 30th, 2005, Tropical Storm Zeta has formed in the Atlantic Ocean.
A storm forming this late is not unheard of; Hurricane Alice formed on December 30th 1954, though it wasn't named until Janury 1st. Because it wasn't named until January, it took the first name of the 1955 season. Making this bit of trivia even funnier is this was back when the Hurricane Center used the same list from year to year, so the late naming and subsequent revision to her date of origin means there were two hurricanes named Alice that year. Had they discovered that second storm earlier, she'd have been named Irene.