University of Central Florida Severe Weather Plan - UCF Facilities ...

Hurricane Ike was a very large storm that spread tropical storm force winds acrossmuch of the central and western Gulf of Mexico. It produced a large anddestructive storm tide across Galveston Island and the Bolivar Peninsula prior toand during landfall. This “storm tide” was much larger than the theoretical“Storm Surge” values indicated on the Saffir Simpson Scale Above.In 2004, when Hurricane Charley made landfall as a strong category 4 hurricane inSouthwest Florida, the actual storm tide heights were much lower than indicatedfor a storm with category 4 winds. This was primarily attributed to Charley being asmaller diameter storm and approaching the Southwest Florida coast at a moreoblique angle.While these are just two recent examples of how storm tide within tropicalcyclones deviates from the “Storm Surge” previously indicated on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, there is more that shows why we must treat each landfallingstorm differently when considering storm surge.In addition to the size of the storm there are important geographical andbathymetric aspects of storm tide which cause generic “Storm Surge” values to bedangerous. For example due the shape of the coastline and bathymetry of eastcentral Florida, this coast can realize a lower storm tide in a category fivehurricane than northeast Florida could realize in a category two event.To take the above example a bit further, a category two storm making landfall inthe Fort Lauderdale area could produce 3 to 4 feet of storm tide, about one halfof the Saffir-Simpson Scale “Storm Surge” values illustrated above, while the samestorm in the Jacksonville area could produce 11 to 15 feet of storm tide, nearlytwice the values indicated in the old Saffir-Simpson Scale.It is important to note that even with surge no longer being connected to theSaffir Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale; the National Weather Service will continueto provide predicted storm surge values in many of its products. Users can consultmany of the products contained within this guide for more information onpredicted storm surge, including the hurricane local statement and graphicalhurricane local statement issued by the National Weather Service in Melbourne.6