Big Waves on East Coast, Outer Banks Overwash
A strong storm system off the East Coast (which people aren't talking about much) is moving in a rare direction, southwestward towards Florida. Before it gets there though, it's going to start moving east. As it has been getting closer, high waves have kicked up from Maine to Florida. Here's an estimate of waves tonight from the Wavewatch model via our Pro site:
At Rodanthe (blue arrow above) on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, an area that typically sees waves push the ocean over the road, it's going from bad to worse. Traffic was (kind of) getting through yesterday, but today Highway 12 is closed due to overwash. The worst will be near time of high tides (approximately noon & midnight).
Below are a couple webcam shots from Mirlo Beach. The first two show a bulldozer trying to clear sand from the road and cars driving through ocean water. The last is a shot of the (closed) road this afternoon, which is pretty much a river with occasional piles of sand and debris. At least one storm chaser is streaming live video from this area.
And it's not limited to the Outer Banks; rip current advisories are in effect up and down the coast; an AccuWeather.com Photo Gallery user snapped this picture in Massachusetts earlier today:
