As Hurricane Zeta neared shore, one oil rig reported wave heights of 49.9 feet, one of the largest reports from 2020 storms.
50-Foot Wave Report During Zeta
AccuWeather/GREarth/NOAA
Less than a day after its Gulf landfall, Post-Tropical-Cyclone Zeta was spinning cranes around in New York city as it exited the coast.
Video shows an unstable crane spinning out of control in Midtown, Manhattan Thursday night. The crane hit buildings and sent debris to the street. https://t.co/z63M1iU6ozpic.twitter.com/W01JY34D9r
The NWS had received about 535 spotter reports by 5 PM October 29, about the time former-Zeta was exiting the coast. About 350 of those reports were downed trees or high wind gusts.
Winds gusted over 100 mph at landfall:
Zeta Wind Gusts
AccuWeather
At official airports, the high wind gusts continued through Maryland:
Zeta Wind Gusts
AccuWeather
A TV station tower on Paris Mountain, SC also gusted to 83 mph, while Grandfather Mountain, NC hit 81 mph.
Hurricane Zeta damage in southern US
At its peak, 2.9 million electric customers were without power, 2.6 million from Zeta and another 370,000 in Oklahoma and Texas from an unusually heavy early-season ice storm.
A fast moving hurricane made for incredibly quick storm surge rises. A tidal station at Port Fourchon, LA saw a 3-foot storm surge, which increased rapidly from 3.03 to 4.10 feet in 12 minutes as Hurricane Zeta made landfall!
Port Fourchon, LA Tidal Graph During Zeta
NOAA
The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie, Louisiana was near Zeta's landfall and took on over 6 feet of storm surge outside and inside their building:
The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie just passed the flooding level we experienced during Hurricane #Barry last year. Now between 5-6 feet with signs of still rising water from Hurricane #Zeta 📸Craig McClain pic.twitter.com/rZcLVlBES3
I captured some of the footage from their rooftop cameras which stream on YouTube, time-lapsed them, and compared them to "normal" conditions on the following day. You can see the immense winds (clocked at near 100 mph by their weather stations) and storm surge (at least 6 feet):
Zeta traveled an unusual path through the southern Appalachians as a Tropical Storm.The mountainous areas of eastern Tennessee, southwest Virginia, and northwest North Carolina had not seen a Tropical Storm Warning before, according to IEM (records go back to ~2007).
History of Tropical Cyclones in NW NC
AccuWeather/NWS
Only three Tropical Storms had traveled within 100 miles of Jefferson, North Carolina, where Zeta was (11 AM on October 29, 2020): Hugo 1989, Gracie 1959, and Unnamed 1949.
Like Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Wilma, some of Zeta's moisture fed into the front / low pressure system that met cold air in New England, causing some snowfall.
Snow on Radar 8:20 AM 10/30
AccuWeather/GREarth
Although snow flakes were observed as far south as Pennsylvania and New Jersey, amounts remained relatively low, with 6-8 inches in central New York State and west of Boston, MA.
Snow from Zeta / Front / Low
NWS
Mass. Snow Amounts 10/30
AccuWeather
The quick movement of the storm limited rainfall and flooding, although some flooding was severe in spots of the North Carolina mountains. Because Zeta combined its moisture with a cold front and additional low pressure system, it's a little hard to estimate how much came from which. Because of the tropical nature of the storm, Doppler precipitation estimates were too low.
Rainfall 10-28 to 10-30 2020, including from Zeta (circled)
NWS
The highest amounts reported by gauges in North Carolina for the 48-hour period were:
Edgewood, NC: 7.41"
Hendersonville, NC: 6.75"
Sunfish Mountain, SC: 6.69"
Highlands, NC: 6.56"
Slicking Mountain, SC: 6.58"
One station that had previously passed 100 inches for the year, Highland, NC, now stood at over 120 inches after Zeta's rain.
Wilkes County, North Carolina, where I grew up, received extreme flooding with significant damage, even though the Doppler estimates were only around 1 inch there (see below). That area is in a bit of a "radar hole" between Roanoke, VA and Greenville, SC, and I suspect that also contributed to the low estimates.
My mom reported 5.6" in her rain gauge. Other gauge amounts ranged from 4-5 inches in the area:
Western NC Rainfall from Zeta, via rain gauges.
NWS
One amateur gauge 3 miles SE of Wilkesboro registered 4.92" in 24 hours, with 2.42" falling between 8 and 9 AM Thursday. This hour of rain, combined with steep mountains in the area, likely lead to the extreme flooding.
The red stars on the maps here indicate the locations of the Woodfield Way (above) and Boomer, NC (below) flooding. I can attest that the location below has not flooded (to the best of my knowledge) since April 1983.
A road floods in Boomer, Wilkes County North Carolina on Oct. 29 after heavy rain from Tropical Storm Zeta deluged the region. (Sally Ferrell)
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Zeta zings from Gulf to NJ in 24 hours
Hurricane Zeta made landfall in Louisiana Wednesday evening... and by Thursday evening, was spinning cranes around in NYC.
Published Oct 31, 2020 9:55 PM EDT
Tropical Storm Zeta strengthened to Category 2 hurricane before making landfall in Louisiana Wednesday evening.
The storm intensified quickly before landfall, a new record for the Gulf of Mexico.
As Hurricane Zeta neared shore, one oil rig reported wave heights of 49.9 feet, one of the largest reports from 2020 storms.
50-Foot Wave Report During Zeta
Less than a day after its Gulf landfall, Post-Tropical-Cyclone Zeta was spinning cranes around in New York city as it exited the coast.
Hurricane Zeta Spotter Reports
The NWS had received about 535 spotter reports by 5 PM October 29, about the time former-Zeta was exiting the coast. About 350 of those reports were downed trees or high wind gusts.
Winds gusted over 100 mph at landfall:
Zeta Wind Gusts
At official airports, the high wind gusts continued through Maryland:
Zeta Wind Gusts
A TV station tower on Paris Mountain, SC also gusted to 83 mph, while Grandfather Mountain, NC hit 81 mph.
At its peak, 2.9 million electric customers were without power, 2.6 million from Zeta and another 370,000 in Oklahoma and Texas from an unusually heavy early-season ice storm.
A fast moving hurricane made for incredibly quick storm surge rises. A tidal station at Port Fourchon, LA saw a 3-foot storm surge, which increased rapidly from 3.03 to 4.10 feet in 12 minutes as Hurricane Zeta made landfall!
Port Fourchon, LA Tidal Graph During Zeta
The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium in Cocodrie, Louisiana was near Zeta's landfall and took on over 6 feet of storm surge outside and inside their building:
I captured some of the footage from their rooftop cameras which stream on YouTube, time-lapsed them, and compared them to "normal" conditions on the following day. You can see the immense winds (clocked at near 100 mph by their weather stations) and storm surge (at least 6 feet):
Zeta traveled an unusual path through the southern Appalachians as a Tropical Storm.The mountainous areas of eastern Tennessee, southwest Virginia, and northwest North Carolina had not seen a Tropical Storm Warning before, according to IEM (records go back to ~2007).
History of Tropical Cyclones in NW NC
Only three Tropical Storms had traveled within 100 miles of Jefferson, North Carolina, where Zeta was (11 AM on October 29, 2020): Hugo 1989, Gracie 1959, and Unnamed 1949.
Like Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Wilma, some of Zeta's moisture fed into the front / low pressure system that met cold air in New England, causing some snowfall.
Snow on Radar 8:20 AM 10/30
Although snow flakes were observed as far south as Pennsylvania and New Jersey, amounts remained relatively low, with 6-8 inches in central New York State and west of Boston, MA.
Snow from Zeta / Front / Low
Mass. Snow Amounts 10/30
The quick movement of the storm limited rainfall and flooding, although some flooding was severe in spots of the North Carolina mountains. Because Zeta combined its moisture with a cold front and additional low pressure system, it's a little hard to estimate how much came from which. Because of the tropical nature of the storm, Doppler precipitation estimates were too low.
Rainfall 10-28 to 10-30 2020, including from Zeta (circled)
The highest amounts reported by gauges in North Carolina for the 48-hour period were:
Edgewood, NC: 7.41"
Hendersonville, NC: 6.75"
Sunfish Mountain, SC: 6.69"
Highlands, NC: 6.56"
Slicking Mountain, SC: 6.58"
One station that had previously passed 100 inches for the year, Highland, NC, now stood at over 120 inches after Zeta's rain.
Wilkes County, North Carolina, where I grew up, received extreme flooding with significant damage, even though the Doppler estimates were only around 1 inch there (see below). That area is in a bit of a "radar hole" between Roanoke, VA and Greenville, SC, and I suspect that also contributed to the low estimates.
My mom reported 5.6" in her rain gauge. Other gauge amounts ranged from 4-5 inches in the area:
Western NC Rainfall from Zeta, via rain gauges.
One amateur gauge 3 miles SE of Wilkesboro registered 4.92" in 24 hours, with 2.42" falling between 8 and 9 AM Thursday. This hour of rain, combined with steep mountains in the area, likely lead to the extreme flooding.
The red stars on the maps here indicate the locations of the Woodfield Way (above) and Boomer, NC (below) flooding. I can attest that the location below has not flooded (to the best of my knowledge) since April 1983.
A road floods in Boomer, Wilkes County North Carolina on Oct. 29 after heavy rain from Tropical Storm Zeta deluged the region. (Sally Ferrell)