Question for the experts...

[TSmith274]

My neice is doing a report on hurricanes for her science class. She lives in Connecticut, and called me with a question. Oddly enough, it's a question that I've often wondered about myself. The question is... can a hurricane be sustained by it's own storm surge? A while back, someone mentioned something about hurricanes being able to sustain themselves on their own storm surge. Say, for example, the hurricane approached New Orleans from the south. A storm surge of 20 feet would render all areas to the south of the city essentially open water. Therefore, there would be minimal interaction with land. New Orleans is the only scenario I can think of that may be able to replecate such an event. Maybe there are other areas that are geographically similar, but I just don't know. Is there any research to explain this either way? Or, have any of you pondered this same question? I told her I'd post this question on this site. Thanks for any responses. I'll be looking forward to them.

[SouthernWx]

In my opinion, no....

In such a scenario, if a hurricane passed over its own storm surge...it might weaken more slowly than if moving over normal terrain, but there would still be some friction (unless this was an extremely small diameter hurricane, much of the storm circulation would be over land); plus the fact the storm surge waters beneath the eye would be extremely shallow...churned up, and without any heat energy.

Look at how a powerful hurricane will draw heat energy from the ocean...look at sst charts following a major hurricane's passage. You can many times trace the hurricane's path afterwords by the trail of cooler sst in it's wake. A storm surge wouldn't have much heat energy, if any.

[Anonymous]

And also, you are only talking a small ways inland that storm surge is gonna go, if it did hit New orleans and create a large storm surge, it wouldnt make much difference as the storm is moving inland anyways and will quickly pass the storm surge and weaken.

[vacanechaser]

I would not think so. You would be looking at up welling in a big enough storm and the water would cool down. Even in a tropical storm, it leaves a bit of a cool wake behind. Plus, even if the water was warm enough, it may not be deep enough. That warm water has to be pretty deep for it to fuel a large hurricane. Look at it as an endless supply of fuel.

Jesse V. Bass III
http://www.vastormphoto.com
Hurricane Intercept Research Team

[hookemfins]

No, hurricanes not only need warm waters they also need that warmth around 150 ft. Andrew traveled over swamp lands and weaked somewhat.

[dhweather]

The short answer is no.

The hurricane is a heat and energy transfer unit. It takes the heat from
the ocean and transfers that into what we see - rain, wind, waves.
The storm surge can not provide the sustained energy needed for a
hurricane. The interruption of the fuel source (warm ocean waters)
will result in the storm weakening.

[TSmith274]

Just wanted to thank all of you for your replies. I've forwarded her this thread. The consensus answer to this question is "no". I've posted this on some other sites, and I get the same answer. Thanks again.