HATTERAS, N.C. – Having the massive, hundreds-of-miles-wide Hurricane Erin swing by your coastline is already a recipe for tidal troubles, with 12- to 20-foot waves and storm surge pushing ocean waters toward the mid-Atlantic shores.
Turns out the calendar is no help either.
HURRICANE ERIN SLAMS NORTH CAROLINA, VIRGINIA COASTS
Thursday’s dangerous storm surge coincides with the new Moon, which is adding a little extra power to the tidal forces already in play.
Time lapse video Wednesday shows storm surge flooding a beachfront hotel in Buxton, N.C. as Hurricane Erin approached the offshore waters.
The new Moon occurs when the Moon is positioned directly between the Sun and Earth during its 29.5-day orbit.
Both the Moon’s and the Sun’s gravitational pull on Earth’s bodies of water are what cause the daily tidal cycle. But when they’re aligned, the tides get a little extra pull and push.
FOX Weather Meteorologist Jane Minar reports live from Long Beach, New York, on the south shore of Long Island, where life-threatening rip currents and potentially 12- to 16-foot waves are forecast due to Hurricane Erin churning up the Atlantic Ocean for hundreds of miles.
When flooding is already in the forecast due to a storm or hurricane, a full or new Moon can make it worse by enhancing the height of high tide.
“Strong long-period swell associated with distant but large and powerful Hurricane Erin will occur simultaneously with higher astronomical tides, exacerbating coastal flooding threats,” the National Weather Service office in Newport/Morehead City, North Carolina, wrote Thursday.
(FOX Weather)
This month, the new Moon is adding about 1-3 inches to the tidal heights, depending on the location, according to the FOX Forecast Center. It can be even more during king tides in the heart of winter and summer, when the Earth reaches its closest and farthest points from the Sun during its elliptical orbit.
About 7.5 million people are under Coast Flood Warnings from North Carolina and Virginia up through Maryland, Delaware and into New Jersey and New York‘s Long Island.
Most areas under the warning are expecting 1-2 feet of tidal flooding during high tide, with some areas seeing as much as 3 feet, all given an extra boost by the new Moon.
Flooding concerns will abate as Erin moves farther away from the coastline on Friday and into the weekend.
