An edition of: WaterAtlas.orgPresented By: USF Water Institute

Water-Related News

Milton and Helene: A tale of two storm surges

As residents of the Gulf Coast and parts of Central Florida dig out from two beatings by powerful hurricanes in two weeks, they may be puzzled by two very different storm surges.

The first strike by Hurricane Helene caught some a little off-guard as it made its way from the Caribbean into the Gulf of Mexico and trekked parallel to the coastline. As the sprawling storm passed the Tampa Bay region more than 100 miles from shore, its counterclockwise winds had plenty of time to propel a storm surge that battered and flooded the coast before Helene finally made landfall in the Big Bend.

Milton arrived nearly as fierce, with winds just 10 mph slower. But its wind field was smaller and its aim direct, blazing a path from the west side of the Gulf to the east side.

“So the duration of time that that water is blowing onshore is less,” said Randy Parkinson, a geologist at Florida International University who studies the impacts from climate change on vulnerable coastal areas. “Whereas on the opposite side of Milton, the wind was actually blowing offshore,” draining Tampa Bay.

The one-two punch will likely spur more intense debate over the future of Florida’s Gulf Coast after a string of powerful storms. Especially since climate change is expected to worsen storm surge, particularly in the Gulf where water levels have risen 6 inches off the southwest coast since 2000, Parkinson said.