Hurricane Alma was the first of three consecutive tropical cyclones to make landfall on the Pacific Coast of Mexico within a ten-day timespan in late June and early July 1996.

Alma made landfall on Mexico's southwest coast shortly thereafter, but it soon moved back out over water and began to weaken.

Satellite imagery and upper–air observations indicated that the disturbance crossed Central America during the middle of June, entering warming than average waters of the Pacific.

Later that day it made landfall near Lazaro Cardenas, although Alma quickly moved back over open water and meandered for about 36 hours.

This made the hurricane the first of three consecutive storms to make landfall on, the Pacific coast of Mexico during a ten-day span.

Alma was tracking slowly along a path roughly parallel to the coastline, it was further downgraded to a tropical depression on June 25.

[3] In anticipation for the storm, hurricane warnings were placed into effect along 175 mi (282 km) of coastline between the resorts of Zihuatenejo and Manzanillo.