Skip to comments.Serious coastal flooding expected in Massachusetts
Posted on 02/08/2013 12:38:26 PM PST by ExxonPatrolUs
The high winds from the storm will drive a damaging storm surge of 2 - 4' along the coast of Eastern Massachusetts Friday night and Saturday morning. High tide Friday night will occur between 9:30 - 10 pm EST, and minor to moderate coastal flooding is expected along east and north-facing shores, when the storm surge of 2 - 3' rides in on top of the tide. Battering waves of 8 -17' will hit the coast south of Boston in Cape Cod Bay, causing severe beach erosion. Of greater concern is the flooding that will occur during the Saturday morning high tide cycle, as that is the time of the new moon, which will bring the highest tide of the month. The ocean's height near Boston varies naturally by about ten feet between low tide and high tide, so it matters greatly when the storm surge arrives, relative to the tidal cycle. Thus we speak of the "storm tide"--how high the water gets above the high tide mark, due to the combination of the storm surge and the tide. During Hurricane Sandy, on October 29, 2012, a potentially very damaging storm surge of 4.57' hit Boston, but arrived near low tide, so the water level during the peak surge did not rise above the normal high tide mark. Fortunately, it appears that the peak storm surge from Nemo will arrive at the time of low tide early Saturday morning, and the surge will have fallen about a foot by the time the high tide arrives near 10 am EST Saturday. As of 9am EST on February 8, 2013, the latest storm surge forecast from the GFS model was calling for a storm tide of about 3.4' above high tide (MHHW, Mean Higher High Water) in Boston on Saturday morning. This would cause minor to moderate flooding in the city, and would be approximately the 10th highest water level on record. The official top 5 storm tides since 1921 at the Boston tide gauge, relative to MHHW, are:
1. 4.82' - February 7, 1978 (Blizzard of 1978) 2. 3.92' - January 2, 1987 3. 3.86' - October 30, 1991 (Perfect Storm) 4. 3.76' - January 28, 1979 5. 3.75' - December 12, 1992
Eastern MA is going to get hammered hard.
I’m in the center of the state and I have maybe an inch of snow but that’s pushing it. It’ll get nasty soon enough, I plan on plowing every two hours to keep up.
Get you bread, milk and beeaah.
Of course, down here in Texas, I just changed into shorts because it's too warm for long pants, and I've been prepping the garden for spring.
LOL, for me it’s firewood and beer although I did grab some D batteries because I actually did need them. There were actually lines for gas even here in my somewhat rural town.
I lived in Ma for 50 years, moved to NV, this is nothing new.
Too bad we can eliminate the entire Gay State.
“Eastern MA is going to get hammered hard.”
And I hear they are going to get a lot of snow, too.
Yes. But it’s a dry snow.
BTW, Mass Gov calls complete ban on travel after 4pm.
Looks like the feds are going to need to print another 50 billion.
What was it Jay Lenno used to say about Doritos? Oh yeah, “Don’t worry, they’ll make more.”
Senator Warren will have to ride it out in her teepee.
I have little sympathy for those who insist on living on the coast. It’s bad enough 100 miles inland and at 200 ft. elevation.
So far today, there hasn’t been much snow here at our house in RI. Just a few inches. Weather people saying more will come tonight. Will be interesting to see how accurate the forecast turns out to be. If winds go as high as predicted, we’ll probably lose power. We are in good shape concerning backup power and fuel. Wife says we are fine with food and other essentials. Kids not happy the storm hits during the weekend. I hope our DSL line stays up. It should since it’s all buried wire/fiber.
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