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elleng

(130,153 posts)
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 02:10 PM Oct 2015

Historic high tides from supermoon and sea level rise flood the Southeast coast.

'Ocean water surged into neighborhoods on the Southeast coast on Tuesday morning during high tide, pushing gauges well beyond predicted levels. Seemingly overnight, we’ve entered an era where king tides compete with hurricanes in the water level record books.

Tuesday morning’s high tide peaked at 8.69 feet in Charleston, over a foot and a half higher than the predicted level. The highest crest on record in Charleston was 12.56 feet on Sept. 21, 1989 — the day that Hurricane Hugo made landfall in South Carolina.

The water level near Savannah, Ga., reached 10.43 feet, which was the third highest on record for the station. The top two records are 10.47 feet on Aug. 11, 1940, when a Category 2 hurricane made landfall on the Georgia and South Carolina coast, and 10.87 on Oct. 15, 1947, when Hurricane Nine made landfall in the same location.

Residents are saying Tuesday’s high tide was worse than South Carolina’s “1,000-year flood” in early October.'

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/10/27/historic-high-tides-from-supermoon-and-sea-level-rise-flood-the-southeast-coast/

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gratuitous

(82,849 posts)
1. You can hear the pooh-poohing already
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 02:19 PM
Oct 2015

"Oh, tides rise and fall all the time. Nothing to see here. It's surely not due to global climate change, just like the terrible wildfire season, and the intensity of tropical storms, and tornados in winter, and widespread drought, and drowning floods, and, and, and . . . gee, there sure are lot of 500- and 1,000-year events in the last few years. Still doesn't mean nothin'."

Yo_Mama

(8,303 posts)
16. It's not - it's due to a confluence of non-climate related events.
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 09:22 PM
Oct 2015

Wind push plus the regular seasonal max tides.

Persistent winds do locally raise water levels.

This is from earlier this year, but it does explain it.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=8463474

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday the higher than normal sea levels were caused by persistent winds from the northeast — pushing water toward shore — and a weakening of the Florida current that feeds water into the Gulf Stream.

Water levels ranged from six inches to two feet above normal in areas from Maine to Florida during June and July, the agency said.


This is from the end of September:
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/atlantic-storm-batter-northeast-rain-wind-coastal-flooding-beach-erosion-virginia-new-jersey/52594848

NOAA has a beautiful sea level trends graph:
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends.html

Locally, subsidence can be a factor. So in that graph, you see the Mississippi delta showing high sea rise, but that is due to a land movement rather than global sea level rise.

There is really not a lot of trend in global mean sea level lately, but there is a lot of correlation with ENSO:


More at this page:
http://sealevel.colorado.edu/

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
2. Plus we on the northern midatl coast and just inland with large rivers
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 02:21 PM
Oct 2015

are supposed to get remnants of Patricia and the rains associated with that (which adds to the already high river tides due the full super moon). The parts of the city that are below sea level may have some flooding, particularly if any leaves start falling en masse to clog drains. The positive is that here in Philly, we are a bit below normal on rain and the trees have not had their first big leaf dumps yet (which is a bit unusual this late in Oct.), although what is forecast may start that process.

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
4. Have the rains started down there yet?
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 02:57 PM
Oct 2015

That was the concern here as the high tide comes up the Delaware River from the Delaware Bay and hits some of the low-lying areas along the river when we start getting the heavy rains (forecast for tomorrow).

elleng

(130,153 posts)
5. Not yet; 'showers' forecast to begin @ 2:30,
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 03:00 PM
Oct 2015

continue through 5:00. And resume tomorrow.

DARN, won't see the MOON!

elleng

(130,153 posts)
9. Don't know.
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 03:22 PM
Oct 2015

'Showers' supposed to be here 'til 5, STOP, and then 'showers' midnight til 2 am, then 'rain' all day tomorrow, w
'thunderstorms' starting @ 8 p.m., finally ends 3 am. Thursday.
'Showers' haven't begun yet!

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
10. Didn't see much of the moon this morning
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 06:25 PM
Oct 2015

going to work. It was behind haze!

The NWS put the whole state of Delaware under a coastal flood advisory this afternoon. They explained it was due to the anticipated rain and wind in addition to the astronomical high tides. They think the heaviest rain may end up north of here though - upstate PA and the Poconos... Expecting a couple inches - particularly if any thunderstorm lines set up. Hope we don't get the wind with that though. Coming home, I did see some of the oak trees and fancier maples have started dropping leaves although most the (trashy) Norway maples are still green.

elleng

(130,153 posts)
11. Didn't see the moon yesterday or this morning,
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 06:39 PM
Oct 2015

did get some pics day/morning before. MISSING the FULL MOON!

Rain/showers still haven't begun here, now says 'Possible @ 12:30 A.M.'

BumRushDaShow

(127,312 posts)
14. The moon lit up the sky here overnight
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 09:05 PM
Oct 2015

but the clouds had streamed in by early this morning and have pretty much been here all day. There's a couple big highs north of us in Canada keeping the air pretty dry and keeping the rain away, but once they move along east, the rain is supposed to trickle in as the atmosphere moistens up. It'll hit you all first as the warm front rises from southwest to northeast and the cold front approaches from the west (yes me = weather geek...lol).

elleng

(130,153 posts)
15. Looking forward to seeing moon again THURSDAY.
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 09:18 PM
Oct 2015

Prepared for rain (which hasn't yet begun) tonight/tomorrow.

OK to be a weather geek! I'm not quite a geek, but do follow forecasts due to my great location, prospects for good pics and blooming roses!

High tomorrow 69, Thurs-71 partly cloudy; Friday high 62 mostly sunny. TODAY, made mid-50's.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
8. When i arrived here in Tampa Bay area, high tide was barely topping our obviously too-low
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 03:21 PM
Oct 2015

sea wall and flooding the lawn that runs down to it. Normally it only has done that when a large storm raises and pushes a big mass of water in off the gulf. I didn't have TV or computer so was just standing there wondering what on earth this was. Sea rise was on the list of course, but surely not THIS fast.

n2doc

(47,953 posts)
12. Highest I have seen in 10 years in Savannah
Tue Oct 27, 2015, 07:14 PM
Oct 2015

Have heard that some people have seen them as high in the past, but don't know if they were associated with a storm. Scary though.

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