Tropical Storm Alma, the first named storm to develop in the 1974 Atlantic hurricane season, was a short lived tropical cyclone that made a rare Venezuelan landfall. The storm formed from the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) on August 12 well to the east of the Windward Islands, but advisories were not issued until the next day when Alma was at peak intensity. Alma entered the southeastern Caribbean Sea at an unusually brisk westward pace of between 20 mph (32 km/h) to 25 mph (40 km/h), prompting numerous watches and gale warnings throughout the nations in this region. After crossing Trinidad, Alma became one of only four tropical storms to traverse the Paria Peninsula of northeastern Venezuela. The storm dissipated on August 15 over the high terrain of Venezuela.