What Exactly IS Storm Surge?
By Erica Grow on October 25, 2012, 12:15pm Last modified: October 25, 2012, 1:55pm
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It's a term that gets tossed around a LOT during the tropical weather season: storm surge. Usually when you hear it on the news the accompanying video shows waves crashing violently against shoreline houses, but waves and storm surge are not the same thing! Storm surge is a term referring to the rise in water level due to a storm's movement toward land. A storm surge of 4 feet, for instance, means that the water level is 4 feet higher than it should be for this point in its tide cycle. It doesn't have to be high tide for a storm surge to happen, but a high tide cycle will definitely enhance a storm surge. This enhancement is called "storm tide," and it was especially evident as Tropical Storm Irene made landfall along the Connecticut shoreline last August. Of course, storm surge is usually accompanied by big waves, but those waves are caused by strong winds along the surface of the water. The surge is all that water that creeps inland during a storm, which can cause serious coastal flooding. By the way, storm surge is not exclusively tropical! Here in Connecticut, we have had devastating storm surges in conjunction with strong winter storms and nasty Nor'easters, too.
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