Author: Megan Molteni / Source: WIRED
After gathering strength from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico overnight, Hurricane Michael blasted across the Florida Panhandle Wednesday afternoon, pummeling the area with winds up to 155 miles per hour. That makes the Category 4 hurricane one of the all-time strongest landfalls in US history.
Earlier today, NOAA’s National Hurricane Center warned that in addition to the destructive winds and heavy rains, Michael could bring a storm surge of up to 14 feet to areas in the direct path of the storm. Surge is similar in effect to a tsunami—a wall of water created when atmospheric pressure changes cause the ocean to rapidly rise and high winds push all that water onshore.
It’s measured as the height of the water above the normal predicted tide, and how bad it is depends mainly on three things: wind speed, shoreline shape, and timing.Typically, the strongest surge occurs with the eyewall of the storm. That makes sense, the strongest wind is where you see the strongest shove. Michael made landfall at Mexico Beach, just northwest of a jutting headland and the town of Apalachicola. But the topography of the area, and of the underwater terrain offshore, slowed down the water’s rise. A National Ocean Service water level station at Apalachicola recently reported about 6.5 feet of inundation.
That’s still enough to knock you off your feet or send cars…
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