4 ms·

If this happens during a high tide... what happens when a storm comes? I'm not talking about 10+ feet from a hurricane... just a moderate gale should produce a

If this happens during a high tide... what happens when a storm comes? I'm not talking about 10+ feet from a hurricane... just a moderate gale should produce a couple feet on top of high tide, and wouldn't that just be the end of things? I remember having the same general thought when I was in Miami beach...

labster 11y ago
Exactly right. Very little is at risk from rising sea level at high tide. Places like this are at some risk during smaller storms, because they're so close to the new mean. However, a whole lot is at risk from hurricane storm surges. The change in mean high tide is not the important part of the story, it's the change in extreme events. The atmosphere is like any other system of waves -- increase the energy in the system, and you increase the amplitude (the frequency being largely limited by the shape/harmonics of the Earth). So, big surprise that we'll expect more extreme events with climate change. Warm ocean water is the fuel for tropical cyclones, so risk in these low-lying areas can only get worse.
will_brown 11y ago
In Miami and Fort Lauderdale the high tides were pretty dramatic around the time of the blood moon, but in terms of tide that was a phenomenon, I still don't think the tide has returned to normal since the blood moon but its definitely in a process of returning to normal. As to rain, it usually will rain daily during wet season, yet "flooding" occurs maybe a dozen times over the year when storms have significant rainfall, and this is nothing new and so in my opinion not related to sea level rise. My opinion is "flooding" from rain is isolated to places with bad drainage, for example its more likely to happen miles inland in a place like Kendall more so than Brickell which is right on the Bay, or even more locally where one street may have flooding but the very next one doesn't.

labster 11y ago

Exactly right. Very little is at risk from rising sea level at high tide. Places like this are at some risk during smaller storms, because they're so close to the new mean. However, a whole lot is at risk from hurricane storm surges. The change in mean high tide is not the important part of the story, it's the change in extreme events. The atmosphere is like any other system of waves -- increase the energy in the system, and you increase the amplitude (the frequency being largely limited by the shape/harmonics of the Earth). So, big surprise that we'll expect more extreme events with climate change. Warm ocean water is the fuel for tropical cyclones, so risk in these low-lying areas can only get worse.

will_brown 11y ago

In Miami and Fort Lauderdale the high tides were pretty dramatic around the time of the blood moon, but in terms of tide that was a phenomenon, I still don't think the tide has returned to normal since the blood moon but its definitely in a process of returning to normal. As to rain, it usually will rain daily during wet season, yet "flooding" occurs maybe a dozen times over the year when storms have significant rainfall, and this is nothing new and so in my opinion not related to sea level rise. My opinion is "flooding" from rain is isolated to places with bad drainage, for example its more likely to happen miles inland in a place like Kendall more so than Brickell which is right on the Bay, or even more locally where one street may have flooding but the very next one doesn't.