Historic Nor'easter pounds Mid-Atlantic coast
A historic Nor'easter, energized by the remains of Hurricane Ida, is pounding the coast form North Carolina to New Jersey with heavy rain, tropical storm-force winds, and a destructive storm surge. Wind gusts of 64 mph were reported at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and at Cape Henry, VA this morning. The high winds, combined with the slow movement of the Nor'easter are acting to push near-record storm surges onto the coast in Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. At Norfolk, Virginia, the storm surge from Ida-ex was 5.0 feet at 10 am EST, the third highest storm surge there since tide gauge records began in 1927. Only Hurricane Isabel in 2003 and the Chesapeake-Atlantic Hurricane of 1933 have brought higher storm surges to Norfolk. Serious coastal flooding is occurring from northern North Carolina to the Delaware/New Jersey border, and the storm surge at Lewes Point, Delaware at 10 am this morning was 4.0 feet, just below the record high of 4.17' set during the January 4, 1992 Nor'easter. Tide records go back to 1919 at Lewes Point.
Figure 1. The Ida-ex Nor'easter at 9:31 am EST 11/12/09. Image credit: NASA/GSFC.
The highest storm surges on record at the Sewell's Point tide gauge in Norfolk, Virginia are:
5.62' Sep 2003 Hurricane Isabel
5.61' Aug 1933 Chesapeake-Atlantic Hurricane
5.00' Nov 2009 Ida-ex
4.73' Sep 1933 Hurricane 13, Cat 1
4.66' Mar 1962 Ash Wednesday Nor'easter
4.05' Sep 1936 Hurricane 13, Cat 2
And the highest water levels, measured above Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW, the lowest tide measured in a full 19-year natural tidal cycle):
1933 hurricane (Aug 23rd 1933)..............8.9 feet MLLW
April 11th 1956 Nor'easter..................8.0 feet MLLW
Hurricane Isabel (Sep 18th 2003)............7.9 feet MLLW
Ash Wednesday storm (Mar 7th 1962)..........7.8 feet MLLW
The water level during high tide this morning at 5 am EST reached 6.7' MLLW in Norfolk at Sewell's Point, but the storm surge of Ida-ex has increased by a full foot since then. The next high tide at 5 pm may see water levels near 8.2 feet. The tremendous amount of rain Ida-ex is dumping over the coast is adding to the storm surge, since the drainage of the rivers into the coastal bays raises the water level above what the wind pushes in.
Figure 2. Predicted storm tide (height above Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW, the lowest tide measured in a full 19-year natural tidal cycle, black line) for Sewell's Point, Virgina in Norfolk, as predicted by the GFS model. A storm tide of 8.0 feet is forecast this afternoon during the 5 pm EST high tide. For a full description of this plot, see the NOAA Extratropical Surge web site.
Figure 3. Tide gauge trace from the Sewell's Point gauge in Norfolk, VA, shows a storm surge of 5 feet (green line) at 10 am EST, and a maximum tide of 6.7 feet above MLLW so far today. Image credit: NOAA Tides and Currents.
Figure 4. Radar-estimated rainfall from the Norfolk radar shows a large area of 4 - 5 inches of rainfall over coastal Virginia and North Carolina. The band of very high rainfall amounts of 5 - 8 inches shown in the northeast part of the radar display is not real; rainfall amounts in that region have been closer to 2 - 4 inches. The error results because at that distance from the radar, the beam is about 8,000 feet above the ground, and is hitting a "bright band" of highly reflective precipitation, where snow is melting and forming rain. The highly reflective rain/snow area reflects much more of the radar beam back, making the software algorithm used to estimate precipitation amounts fail.
You can follow the storm today with our Severe Weather Page.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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half of my neighborhood is out...
yes, it would make the percentage higher, but you have to remember alot of fresh rain water is also running off into the bay therefore the change will be neglegable
Some of these bouys have salinity, you can monitor them, such as this one.
I know this is not the current AOI but one of the Turks and Caicos PWS has a very low pressure reading..:
28.9 °C
Scattered Clouds
Humidity: 78%
Dew Point: 24 °C
Wind: 20.9 km/h / 5.8 m/s from the SSW
Wind Gust: 27.4 km/h
Pressure: 1006.7 hPa (Steady)
Heat Index: 34 °C
With the storm center looking to drift SE the chances of a quick drawdown from NW winds isn't going to happen.
Up here on the Chickahominy river high tide is just peaking and the water is just as high as the last. Heard they evacuated portions of one neighborhood just down river last night. Diascund creek over flowed and closed Rt 60. That hasn't happened in about 15 years, even Isabel didn't do it.
isabel wasnt much of a rain maker though, but the tidal flooding can be compared, its incredible.
anyone know how to read this map... tell me how much wind is in this band?
The mid Atlantic would be under water.
the erosion that this current storm did, if it cycled around the water could go miles inland...
thanks :), can it be used to tell how strong straight line winds are? like could this band knock down more trees?
and it is the base radial velocity channel
looks like a strengthening storm to me... and where do you get the 12hr loops from p?
thanks :)
OUTER BANKS BEATING Tropical Update
Non-weather related image. BAN! (I mean come on, my images are always at least relevant to the discussion and i've been banned twice, like a plate of crow at this storm's landfall, but he's permitted to post annoying animated smileys?)
ida is hurricane screw it lets just trash florida again! (Omg if i get banned for this I'll... I mean this is an image about hurricanes. I dunno where the mods draw their lines, and how they have no souls to understand non-weather images to make simple humor.)
NE-wxguy --get up off the floor for a few seconds--also floodman hear ye hear ye hear ye yesterday at about 5-30 pm a hp was put over viginia city pressure was under 995. 6-7 hrs later, pressure was 999.9. also virginia bch reported--no rain--overcast---also goes east showed it clearing. this morning was even
better. i am confident that you are both
honorable men--so you , please check it out
and you tell me what happened. note--in the
8 yrs that i have been involved in weather
modification- (EXCEPT IN BERTHA WHEN THE WEATHER MAN SAID--I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY ANYMORE--THIS STORM DEFIES REASON) I have never had a weatherman,who did not have a reason, why something that should have
happened, did not happen. remember that!
ps--when you are ready--and i can break free--
time wise--if you are interested--i will give
you the reason why bertha was the longest
lasting hurricane, on record for that time of
year---i have about 130+ pages of documentation, on bertha,that i did myself.
you will find it very interesting by for now
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