MIAMI (AP) – Tropical Storm Zeta fell apart Friday in the open Atlantic, finally bringing the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season to an end.

Zeta, which was never a threat to land, set one last record before strong wind shear and dry air robbed it of its wind speed and other characteristics of a tropical system: No named storm ever endured so long into January.

Hurricane Alice in 1955 was the only other Atlantic storm to greet a new year at all.

At 4 p.m., Zeta was a remnant low pressure system with winds near 30 mph, centered about 900 miles east-northeast of the northern Leeward Islands.

Zeta was the last and 27th named storm in the season that officially ended Nov. 30. Its demise was a welcome relief for forecasters who normally don’t have to worry about storms in the middle of winter.

The season had 14 hurricanes including Katrina, which devastated Louisiana and Mississippi in August and became the costliest disaster in U.S. history.

The 2006 season officially begins June 1, but any tropical storms that form early would be part of its tally. The first name on the list is Alberto.

“So, until the 2006 season begins, unless Zeta somehow makes an unlikely miracle comeback, this is the National Hurricane Center signing off for 2005,” hurricane specialist Stacy Stewart said in the last advisory on Zeta. “Finally.”