An upper level low & elongated north-south surface trough across the Central Atlantic is producing widespread -- but disorganized -- showers & thunderstorms from near the Eastern Caribbean hundreds of miles northeast/northeast into the Atlantic. A weak surface low has emerged 300-400 miles east/northeast of Puerto Rico. Mid & upper level shear is high so any true tropical development is unlikely as the sytems drifts north & northeast.
Otherwise -- on the last day of the 2011 hurricane season -- the Atlantic Basin is quiet with obvious signs of late autumn/early winter: strong cold fronts & upper level troughs scouring out the Gulf of Mexico & dropping far into the Caribbean & well east into the Atlantic.
A full discussion of the '11 hurricane season will be posted Thu., Dec. 1st.
The NHC has compiled a great 4.5 min. animation of the 2011 hurricane season -- click here. The Center has also released a written synopsis -- click here -- of the '11 hurricane season with an emphasis on "Irene", the first hurricane to make a U.S. landfall in 3 years. Given the very active season (19 named storms), the U.S. still was relatively lucky though tropical storm "Lee" was also a destructive storm with flooding & tornadoes with the Northeast especially hard hit.
