Alberto, First Named Storm of Season, Lashes Mexico, South TX
6/19/24 – Potential Tropical Cyclone #1 just became Tropical Storm Alberto, according to the National Hurricane Center’s (NHC) 10 AM update. Alberto will reach the coast of northeast Mexico early tomorrow morning.
Texas Impacts from Alberto
Until then, the entire Texas Coast up to San Luis Pass is under a tropical storm warning. Residents can expect heavy rains, coastal flooding and gusty winds through Thursday.
NHC expects Alberto to weaken quickly once it comes ashore early Thursday. The storm is moving at 9 miles per hour with maximum sustained winds of 40 MPH. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 415 miles north of the center.
Peak storm surge will reach 2-4 feet along the upper Texas Coast and Galveston Bay.
Rainfall Still Ratcheting Down
Rainfall predictions continue to ratchet down, however, especially for the Houston area as Alberto is pushed south by higher pressure from the northeast U.S.
Alberto should produce 5 to 10 inches of rainfall across northeast Mexico into South Texas. Maximum totals around 20 inches are possible. This rainfall will likely produce considerable flash and urban flooding along with new and renewed river flooding.
NHC will produce more advisories on Alberto at 1 and 4 PM today.
Make Alberto a Learning Experience
If you have kids home from school looking for something to do, this is an excellent chance to teach them about tropical cyclones.
NHC offers dozens of educational resources geared toward students from K-12 all the way up to continuing education for weather professionals. Harness your child’s natural curiosity while storms are in the news.
I found NHC’s course on Hurricane Basics very informative. Before Alberto became Alberto, it had winds strong enough to qualify as a tropical storm, but NHC kept calling it a potential tropical cyclone instead. Do you know the other attributes that define tropical cyclones? Hurricane Basics tells you.
Want to know what it takes to get a tropical cyclone started?
What affects their intensity?
Or how various factors come together to produce more or less rainfall?
NHC describes each of the factors above and provides clear, simple illustrations that make them easy to understand.
This particular presentation also covers:
- Storm tracks
- Where hurricanes will most likely form depending on month of the season
- Tropical distrubances
- Track forecasting
- Associated hazards, such as hurricanes
- Relative risks from wind, rainfall, surge, flash flooding, etc.
- Categories of storms and types of damage associated with each
- More, much more.
Trivia: By the way, NHC provides climate data, too. Did you know, for instance, that the first named storm of the season usually occurs on June 20th in the Atlantic Basin. This year, the first named storm occurred on June 19.
Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/19/24
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