Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Out Like A Lion: Supermoon Nor'easter


Heavy rain and coastal flooding top the Worry List as an oddly-timed Nor'easter takes aim at Massachusetts late Thursday and early Friday.

The storm will hit the day after a Supermoon coincides with the spring equinox.

I forget if the expression is Winter or March going out like a lion, but since it happens after the equinox, it may be a case where Spring is coming in like a very mean lamb.

This won't be a bad storm, but worth watching.

Rain starts late Thursday, gets heavy overnight and tapers to showers as Friday rolls along.

Winds will gust near 50 mph. They will be east overnight, west on Friday. Friday will be very breezy.

The Supermoon brings astronomically high tides. That could be a problem with a nor'easter hitting. High tide is around midnight Thursday night.

As we see it now, the storm won't be worked up too much by the midnight high tide. ESE winds and the surf they produce will be building. The high tide should hit before the storm's peak. That should keep the waves down some.

Winds should then shift to S and then W over a few hours, and a SSW wind should blow the waves back some for the Friday 1 PM high tide.

Still, supermoon tides flood lowlands without a storm happening. The pictures above and below (Gurnet Road in Duxbury and the Cut River in Green Harbor, respectively) were taken during February's Supermoon.

Keep an eye to the sea late Thursday and all day Friday, but any coastal flooding is expected to be minor.

We may do a Duxbury/Vegas run during the afternoon high tide, but with the west wind blowing, we may try what we will call the inner Outer Cape. We're thinking Herring Brook Beach, maybe Thumpertown.


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