Omega Storm

Last night while watching the 11 o'clock news I learned that once tropical storm names pass W they then are named after the Greek alphabet. It is after W and not Z because they dont use Z names, Or Q, U, X and Y names either! This year's W name is Wilma, so after Tropical Storm Wilma comes and goes, the next storm will be named Tropical Storm Alpha and I would guess that they would but the year after Alpha, just in case there is another one in the future.

Tropical Storm naming for Atlantic Ocean storms began in 1953. Then all the names were female. In 1979 names alternated between male and female names. They also retire names from the register if the storm was particularly devastating.

By the end of 2004 there have been 232 named storms. That means that since the naming began 51 years ago there has been an average of 4.5 storms per year. This year alone, with the latest storm Tammy bearing down on America's eastern seaborne, we have had 19 named storms. The most tropical storms on record for one year was in 1933, when there were 21. The storm season lasts from June 1 to November 30, so it is only natural to think that we will be naming some storms according to the Greek alphabet.

So far you might be bored by this meteorology lesson, but I am going somewhere with this. The Bible mentions that alpha is the beginning and omega is the end. Does that then translate that the beginning of the end is neigh?

We are just over 4 months into this hurricane season, and with 19 storms down we have averaged nearly 5 storms a month. With 2 months left we can say that there will be 10 more storms, but I will round it down to 9. That means that we will get up to Tropical Storm Eta.

Since Alpha is the beginning, if we designate every storm since Alpha with a Greek Alphabet name, the Omega Storm will be the storm in 2006 designated as Raphael. This is of course an estimation since it is nearly impossible for me to guess how many storms we might get next summer. If we dont get up to Raphael next summer (sometime in early September) then the Omega Storm will be one of the early storms in the summer of 2007, most likely in June.

What does all this mean? Well, basically the world is coming to an end sometime between October and November of 2006 or between June and July of 2007. At most we have a year and three fourths left to put all our ducks in order before the world as we know it comes to an end.

Enjoy life will you can. Dont be upset that the world is ending and become depressed. Instead, celebrate the life you have lived and have fun with the time we all have left.