Alberto Tropical Storm

Southern United States, July 3–7, 1994 

Between 1982 and 2006, five North Atlantic tropical cyclones have been identified with the name Alberto. Of these systems, two were of hurricane intensity, while the remaining three were classified as tropical storms. Less than three days after the official start of the 1982 North Atlantic hurricane season, the first Hurricane Alberto originated over the warming waters of the extreme western Gulf of Mexico on June 2, 1982. At its peak a powerful Category 1 hurricane, a meandering Alberto’s central pressure reading of 29.08 inches (985 mb) produced sustained winds of 86 MPH (138 km/h) and heavy rains over Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, western Cuba and southern Florida, but caused no deaths or serious injuries.

On August 8, 1988, a weak Tropical Storm Alberto chugged ashore in Newfoundland, Canada, delivering 40-MPH (64-km/h) winds and a central pressure of 29.58 inches (1,002 mb) to the province’s rocky but picturesque coastline. Formed off the coast of Georgia on July 5, Tropical Storm Alberto tracked to the northeast, brushing past North Carolina’s Outer Banks as it followed the nourishing waters of the Gulf Stream, northward. No deaths or injuries were reported in Tropical Storm Alberto’s wake. 

Even though its 60-MPH (97-km/h) winds were not of hurricane strength when it first came ashore at Destin, Florida, on July 3, 1994, tropical storm Alberto was later responsible for some of the worst flooding to strike neighboring Georgia in almost a century. Originating off the northwest coast of Cuba on June 30, Alberto steadily moved north across the Gulf of Mexico on a course that closely paralleled that of a 1919 unnamed tropical storm that began in roughly the same place and at about the same time in the hurricane season. As was the case in the earlier storm, Alberto, with a central barometric pressure of 29.32 inches (993 mb), made a midmorning landfall in the vicinity of Pensacola with winds of less than hurricane intensity but bearing immense quantities of tropical precipitation. At Fort Walton, Florida, Alberto’s 66-MPH (106-km/h) gusts created isolated power outages while whipping longleaf pine trees and road signs, but it caused no fatalities.

While coastal flooding ruined that year’s valuable oyster harvest in Apalachicola Bay, it was not until Alberto moved inland, where it collided with an entrenched high-pressure system over the southern United States, that the storm’s torrential rains were finally unleashed on July 5. Americus, Georgia, received as much as 21.1 inches (533 mm) of rain in a single 24-hour period, causing the Flint and Ocmulgee Rivers to overrun their banks quickly. Forty thousand people in Albany, Georgia, were forced to seek higher ground when steadily rising floodwaters inundated their homes. Cemeteries burped up their caskets, and budding cotton fields were washed clean of crop and topsoil alike. Thirty-one people were killed, and hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage were assessed in Tropical Storm Alberto’s wake.

Between August 4 and 23, 2000, Hurricane Alberto tracked a long and convoluted course across the North Atlantic basin. Originating near the western African coast, Alberto tracked to the northwest, executed a large loop to northeast of Bermuda, then moved northward into the North Atlantic. At its peak a hurricane of Category 3 intensity, Alberto’s central pressure of 28.05 inches and sustained winds of 127 MPH (204 km/h) remained well offshore for its entire existence. As of the end of the 2005 North Atlantic hurricane season, Alberto (2000) was the second longest-lived tropical cyclone on record in the Atlantic basin, with a total distance traveled of 6,500 miles (10,500 km). Alberto’s marathon existence was topped only by 1966’s Hurricane Faith, which traveled some 7,500 miles (12,500 km). 

The first named tropical system of the 2006 North Atlantic hurricane season, Alberto, formed off the western coast of Cuba on June 10. A disorganized system with a weak convective center hampered by an unfavorable wind shear environment, Alberto remained a tropical depression (with a central pressure of 29.61 inches [1,003 mb]) for its entire existence in Cuban waters before recurving to the northeast and eventually making landfall near Adams Beach, Florida, as a powerful tropical storm. Like most tropical depressions and tropical storms, Alberto was a strenuous rainmaker, dropping significant amounts of precipitation on western Cuba and the southeastern U.S. While some Cuban reports indicated up to 16 inches (406 mm) of precipitation from Alberto, the system produced smaller counts during its passage over Florida and the mid-Atlantic states. Ruskin, Florida, received 6.71 inches (170 mm) of precipitation on June 13, while Raleigh, North Carolina, observed 7.16 inches (182 mm) on June 14, as the system was undergoing extratropical deepening. When the system trundled ashore on the Florida Panhandle on June 13, its central barometric pressure of 29.44 inches (997 mb) generated sustained wind speeds of 69 MPH (111 km/h).

Meteorologists attributed Alberto’s abrupt strengthening configuration prior to landfall to its interaction with the fueling waters of the loop current. Not surprisingly, Alberto’s constituent thunderstorms generated scores of tornadoes, including four in Florida. Although there were many reports of storm surge flooding in Florida and flash floods in North Carolina, Alberto’s passage was not considered particularly destructive. Two people indirectly lost their lives to Alberto, while damage estimates of $50 million were tallied. The identifier Alberto has been retained on the list of North Atlantic tropical cyclone names, and will be given to the first named tropical system of the 2012 season.