An upper level trough over the northwest Caribbean pushed a cold front into the Florida Straits.
Pressures fell across the western Caribbean on the 1st. A warm core cyclone developed and moved
northward, up the east side of the upper level trough. The cyclone moved between Dry Totugas and
Key West on the evening of the 3rd as a minimal hurricane. The system moved northeast, making
landfall near Punta Gorda on the 4th as a weak system. Exiting the east coast late on the 4th, Abby
made a loop to the south before moving to the north-northwest up the northeast Florida coast on the
6th as a tropical storm. Abby helped relieve drought conditions across Florida caused by the winter/
spring dry season. The system moved inland into the Southeast, meandering for several days before
moving northeast along the coast of North Carolina and becoming absorbed by an extratropical
cyclone offshore the northern Mid-Atlantic states. The graphics below show the storm total
rainfall for Abby, using data provided by the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville,
North Carolina.
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