Alberto, the first storm of the 2006 Atlantic hurricane season, made landfall midday on Tuesday 13 June 2006 along a remote section of the northeast Gulf coast of Florida as a moderate tropical storm. As the storm moved inland across north Florida, southeast Georgia, and South and North Carolina, it brought with it heavy but much needed rain. Wild fires have been a problem across Florida, and the Southeast has been dry in general, so Alberto's rains have been very beneficial to the region.

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite came into service in November of 1997. From its low-earth orbit, TRMM has been measuring rainfall over the global Tropics using a combination of passive microwave and active radar sensors. The TRMM-based, near-real time Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (MPA) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center monitors rainfall over the global Tropics. MPA rainfall totals are shown here for the period 10 to 14 June 2006 for Florida and the surrounding region. The track of Alberto is also shown for reference. The highest rainfall totals for the period (shown in red) are on the order of 15 to 20 inches over western Cuba. There is a widespread area of rain covering Florida, Georgia, and South and North Carolina. Amounts here are mostly less than 5 inches (blue areas). However, an band of 6 to up 8 inches of rain locally (green and yellow areas) extends from central South Carolina eastward across eastern North Carolina. After making landfall, Alberto's circulation interacted with a stationary front that was draped across the Southeast. The bulk of the rain fell east of the storm track. This is consistent with Alberto's asymmetric structure due to the wind shear.

Rainfall Accumulation Over Western Cuba (WEST OF 80W)

CLICK TO SEE TROPICAL STORM ALBERTO JUNE 11, 2006