Tropical Storm Alma - May 23-27,
1970
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.