And We’re Off!
Flooding Caused by Tropical Storm Alma in Costa Rica.
Hurricane season started last weekend, and already we have seen the first named storms in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and the two are related. Tropical Storm Alma formed during the last week of May and almost became a hurricane before making landfall in Nicaragua. Alma brought up to 10 inches of rain to Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
The circulation from Alma fell apart over the mountains of Honduras, but part of the storm made it into the western Caribbean and a new circulation developed. Winds with this area of low pressure became just strong enough for it to be named Tropical Storm Arthur, just after the storm crossed into Belize on May 31st.
If Alma had maintained at least tropical depression status as it crossed over Central America, it would have kept the name Alma. Because the storm completely fell apart, and then re-formed in the Caribbean, it got a new name. It is not uncommon for an Atlantic storm to cross Central America and re-emerge in the Pacific… it has happened seven times since 1949. A storm that goes from the Pacific to the Atlantic is much rarer. That has only happened twice before, in 1989 and in 1949. Alma was also the first storm to hit Central America from the Pacific since records began in 1949. Mexico has been hit from the Pacific, and Central America has been hit from the Atlantic.
Posted by on 06/06 at 01:16 PM
