Historic Warm-Core Storms & Storm Surge Records

Tracking Warm-Core Storms: Investigating Historical Events

Coastal settings with pocket embayments are particularly prone to high waters. Shorelines that have experienced tectonic uplift (i.e., rocky shorelines) are less susceptible because these shorelines are often configured with relatively deep off-shore bathymetric approaches that do not support the development of significantly high volumes of water in the near shore region. In fact, in the U.S., the largest storm surge ever recorded occurred during Hurricane Katrina in the area of Pass Christian just west of Gulf Park, Mississippi. Combined with wave heights, the storm surge at Biloxi, Mississippi created a high water mark in excess of 30 feet. Based on modeling using NOAA's SLOSH (Sea Lake and Overland Surge from Hurricanes) program, geoscientists have predicted the highest theoretical storm surges, and all occur on either the Gulf Coast or the East Coast in areas that are heavily populated and developed.

Globally, the highest storm surge ever is reported in northern Australia in 1899 during a cyclone. Although the exact height is still uncertain, it is reported to have been in excess of 40 feet. In the Indian Ocean, a cyclone produced a surge measured at just over 10 meters (~34 feet) in Bangladesh in 1970. This event produced the largest number of casualties on record for all storms globally. If you still need help understanding storm surge, check out the video here on NOAA's Storm Surge and Inundation website. Note the animation is in shockwave format, so some tablets/ipads may not be able to play it directly, although Safari, Explorer or similar browsers on other computers should be able to.

In order to further investigate historical events, another great resource is available at NOAA's Historical Hurricane Tracks server. The tool can be used to visualize historical storms, and to select specific areas and identify specific storms (Figure 5.15). As the user, you can navigate to specific areas and identify historical storms and details about them. The database does not include the most recent events, so searches are valid for storms through about 2012. Nevertheless, you can search by ocean basin, location (using coordinates, navigating or setting location), by storm intensity (category), or by the storm and year of an event. You should take some time to explore the site, as you will be working with the database to answer some questions about specific case studies.

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Figure 5.15: NOAA's Historical Hurricane Tracks server.
Credit: NOAA: HIstorical Hurricane Tracks