Hurricane Idalia Set To Collide With Rare Blue Supermoon, Elevating Storm Surge Threat

Meghan Overdeep
·2 min read

The intensified gravitational pull that goes along with a full moon will have tides sitting up to a foot above normal levels when Idalia strikes.

Well, we’re not as excited about tomorrow’s blue supermoon as we were last week, that’s for sure.

With the rare lunar event set to illuminate the sky on Wednesday nights, experts say its timing couldn’t be worse for Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, thanks to Hurricane Idalia.

In a bizarre turn of events, the moon will be closest to the Earth the same day Idalia is expected to make landfall in Florida as a dangerous Category 3 storm. While it will be a beautiful site, the intensified gravitational pull that goes along with a full moon will have tides sitting up to a foot above normal levels when Idalia strikes.

“I would say the timing is pretty bad for this one,” Brian Haines, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Charleston, told the Associated Press.

According to the National Hurricane Center’s Tuesday projections, the storm surge could be up to 15 feet along parts of Florida’s west coast. A surge of up to seven feet is expected in the Tampa Bay area.

In Charleston and the surrounding area, there’s concern that the addition of Idalia’s storm surge to the forecasted high tide could cause significant flooding. The weather service is forecasting an 8.2-foot tide in The Holy City Wednesday evening,

“Wednesday evening looks really nasty for coastal flooding here,” Haines said.

Officials are urging residents of coastal communities in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina to heed evacuation orders.

“The No. 1 killer in all of these storms is water,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told CNN, “whether it’s the storm surge that’s going to happen at the coast or the excessive rainfall that might happen inland that causes urban flash flooding.”

This is a developing story.

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