A weak tropical depression formed in the southwest Caribbean Sea on May 17th. Gradually
strengthening while moving north, the system became a hurricane by the 20th, Thereafter, vertical
wind shear from the west caused weakening. Alma regained tropical storm status late in the day on
on the 20th and tropical depression intensity on the night of the 21st. Stalling across the northwest
Caribbean, the system dropped heavy rains across central and western Cuba before resuming its trek to
the north. As it passed by the west coast of Florida, Alma looked very well organized with an eye
feature on radar imagery, despite its intensity as a tropical depression as reported by nearby ship and land
observations. The rains that fell across Florida helped relieve dry season conditions. The graphics below
show the storm total rainfall associated with Alma. Data was acquired from the National Climatic Data
Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
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