Since 1979 the National Hurricane Center uses 6 rotating naming list for Atlantic Tropical Storms and Hurricanes. The names are reused every 6 years unless they are retired. The name Alberto has been used several times since 1982. Here are the list of Alberto in the Atlantic

1982 Hurricane Alberto category 1 hurricane
1988 Tropical Storm Alberto
1994 Tropical Storm Alberto
2000 Hurricane Alberto Category 3 hurricane
2006 Tropical Storm Alberto
2012 Tropical Storm Alberto
2018 Tropical Storm Alberto
2024 Tropical Storm Alberto

Indeed, the name has been used 8 times in the Atlantic including this years tropical storm Alberto. However, Alberto should not have been used again after the 1994 Season. That is the point of this post is I'm going to focus on 1994's Tropical Storm Alberto.

The 1994 season was below average due to an El Nino, but it did produce 2 very destructive storms. Tropical Storm Alberto and Hurricane Gordon. Alberto is the focus of this post. I can remember being a young lad tracking Alberto on my hurricane Map. I could not wait for the next advisory. Now as a Meteorologist I have decided to take analyze Alberto.

Alberto (1994) Occurred 30 years ago. Like most early hurricane season storms. Alberto developed in the Gulf of Mexico. The storm originated from a tropical low in the Caribbean.

At the end of June 1994 a tropical low in the Caribbean started to move into the Gulf. Due to the warm waters the tropical low became better organized. The National Hurricane Center classified it as a tropical depression. The next day on July 1st it was named Tropical Storm Alberto and started to move northward.

Alberto continued to strengthen as it became clear it would make landfall in Gulf Shores Alabama and Pensacola Florida. I can remember the National Hurricane Center stating it would most likely stay a strong tropical storm, but it could briefly become a hurricane before it made landfall. The storm became better organized and convection started to wrap around the storm's center. Alberto went from 50 mph to 65 mph. However, Alberto ran out of fuel from the warm waters and made landfall with winds of 65 mph and a pressure of 993 millibars.

Alberto though did a lot of damage inland. Once Alberto made landfall, due to a frontal system to its north, it's movement really slowed down. Places like Southern Alabama, Southern Georgia and the Panhandle of Florida had historical flooding. In fact, some locations saw 2 feet of rain water setting records, again at that time.

Georgia was the hardest hit state as the heavy rains kept adding to the flooding. Houses where literally swept off their foundations, rivers came out of their banks, cities ended up being underwater. In Georgia alone over 25 people where killed due to flooding.

As the frontal system in Kentucky/Tennessee lifted Alberto's Remnants moved into those states. For Kentucky and Tennessee rainfall was 1-3 inches. But that was nothing to the 20-25 inches of rain places in Georgia received.

Alberto, caused 32 deaths with 25 of those occurring in Georgia. In addition, Alberto was responsible for $1.05 Billion dollars worth of damage. However, for unknown reasons the following year the USA did not request retirement and the name has been used since.

In my opinion, the name Alberto should have been retired for its 1994 impacts. This storm may have not been a hurricane, but it proved that tropical storms can be deadly even if they do not become hurricanes. Moreover, Alberto showed the dangers tropical systems still pose when they go inland. Almost all of the damage was due to flooding and most of it occurred in Georgia.

What lead to Alberto being so destructive in terms of flooding was the fact that once the storm made landfall it slowed down. Normally storms would move northward. In this case a frontal system meant that Alberto would not be going anywhere for days. So you had a nearly stalled tropical system dumping heavy rain over the same area. Also the storm was still pulling up moisture from the Gulf. This allowed thunderstorms and rain bands to keep developing which also added to the flooding.

Indeed, Alberto of 1994 occurred 30 years ago. The storm produced historic flooding that had not been seen in a long time. Some of the rainfall records have been passed by other tropical systems. However, some of these records still stand today. In addition, this storm is still talked about to this day. I do not understand why the USA did not request retirement for the name Alberto. Especially when past storms that did damage like this did have their names retired.