page_title: Tropical Storm Alma
section_title: Records and retirement
hierarchical_section_title: Tropical Storm Alma / Records and retirement
caption_attribution_description: Tropical Storm Alma
context_page_description: Tropical Storm Alma of the 2008 Pacific hurricane season was the easternmost forming Pacific tropical cyclone on record. It formed within the monsoon trough just off the coast of Costa Rica on May 29. Initially forecast to remain a weak tropical storm, the cyclone rapidly strengthened and developed an eye before making landfall in Nicaragua near León with peak winds of 65 mph. Alma was the first tropical storm on record to strike the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. In Costa Rica, heavy rainfall caused flooding and landslides, killing two and causing $35 million in damage. Three people were killed in Nicaragua, one from drowning and two others from electrocution. Five others died in Honduras from an aviation accident likely related to the storm and one other was swept away in floodwaters.
context_section_description: Forming at 86.5ºW, Alma developed farther east than any other Pacific tropical cyclone on record. Excluding systems crossing in from the Atlantic, only eight other systems, Francesca in 1970, Bridget and Priscilla in 1971, Jimena in 1979, Paul in 1982, Cristina in 1996, Rosa in 2000, and Selma in 2017, developed east of 90ºW. Alma made landfall farther east than any other Pacific tropical cyclone, and it was the only to do so on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. When the storm formed on May 29, it marked the ninth year in a row when a Pacific tropical cyclone formed in May, which was the most consecutive years in which storms formed in May. Alma's remnants contributed to the formation of Tropical Storm Arthur in the Atlantic.
  Despite having a relatively minimal impact on land, the World Meteorological Organization retired the name Alma from the list of Pacific hurricane names and replaced it with Amanda for the 2014 Pacific hurricane season. This makes Alma one of only three tropical storms to have had its name retired in the eastern Pacific; the others were Hazel in 1965 and Knut in 1987.
caption: Satellite image of Alma shortly before attaining tropical storm status
exif: {}