Tropical Storm Alex (2022)

Storm Active: June 5-6

During the last week of May, a tropical cyclone developed southwest of Mexico and became Hurricane Agatha, the first named storm of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season. On May 30, it made landfall as a category 2 hurricane in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It caused widespread flooding in southern Mexico but the low-level center quickly dissipated over the mountainous terrain. Nevertheless, the remnants moved generally northeastward toward the Gulf of Mexico.

There was significant wind shear over the region, which prevented reformation at first. There were also two areas of vorticity: one was the remnants of Agatha, and another upper-level low farther east. It took time for these areas to consolidate. Despite this, the disturbance was quite vigorous. By June 3, when it was centered just north of the Yucatan Peninsula, the low was already producing gale force winds. The next day, it made landfall in southwestern Florida, bringing tropical storm force winds and heavy rain to the southern half of the state.

It wasn't until after the system moved east-northeastward over the open Atlantic that it finally became organized enough to be designated Tropical Storm Alex early on June 5. Alex was named quite soon after the official start of hurricane season on June 1, but 2022 was actually the first time since 2015 that there was no named storm prior to June 1.

The storm strengthened over the Gulf stream during the day and became a strong tropical storm by the evening. Alex reached a peak intensity of 70 mph winds and a minimum central pressure of 984 mb that night. Soon after, it encountered colder waters and higher shear, which weakened the cyclone and hastened its extratropical transition. Before it finished this transition, however, Alex passed just north of Bermuda early on June 6, bringing tropical storm conditions to the island. Alex was designated post-tropical later that day. The remnants merged with another low over the Atlantic just one day later.

The above image shows Alex intensifying over the western Atlantic. The U.S. east coast is visible at left.

The low that became Alex brought gale conditions to southern Flroida on June 4, but it was not yet a tropical cyclone at the time.