Storm surge question

[Cookiely]

If the hurricane comes in the east coast of florida and exits the west coast (I'm in Tampa) is there a problem with storm surge when it exits? Does the hurricane pull the water out with it and then it rebounds back?

[caneman]

If the hurricane comes in the east coast of florida and exits the west coast (I'm in Tampa) is there a problem with storm surge when it exits? Does the hurricane pull the water out with it and then it rebounds back?

Would not be nearly as bad as the Charley scenario would have been if it had come up just West of Pinellas. What would be concerning is if Frances came out around Naples and decided to do a quick hook or stall North of us.

[Cookiely]

That's what worries me the most is France's slow forward speed. The amount of flooding that would occur. Can the hurricane center predict ahead of time what the forward speed will be at landfall. I haven't been able to find any info on this subject.

[caneman]

That's what worries me the most is France's slow forward speed. The amount of flooding that would occur. Can the hurricane center predict ahead of time what the forward speed will be at landfall. I haven't been able to find any info on this subject.

They're very good with speed of motion with the recon flights and all. Intensity is the their one weakness.

[wxman57]

If the hurricane comes in the east coast of florida and exits the west coast (I'm in Tampa) is there a problem with storm surge when it exits? Does the hurricane pull the water out with it and then it rebounds back?

Storm surge results from the piling up of water as strong wind, over a long fetch (distance across the water) blows toward a coastline. If a hurricane moved inland on the east coast and passed south of Tampa, then Tampa Bay would experience strong easterly winds, lowering the level of the Bay. If the storm passed to the north, Tampa bay would get strong west winds that could pile up some water, but it would not be nearly as high as with the right-front quadrant on the other coast of Florida. The storm would be moving away from Tampa, so the wind fetch would be moving away from the Bay, and the south side is typically the weaker side of a storm. And time is also a factor. A storm heading for the coast has wind blowing across the water toward the shore for a long period of time. This would increase the storm surge. But Tampa would get a rapid wind shift to the west, strong winds for a few hours, and then gradually decreasing wind. Not really a lot of time to build up water along the coast. Could increase Bay levels some, though.