Shape of the Coastline

MYTH #3: "The shape of our coastline protects us from hurricanes."

Regions affected: Coastal Georgia, northeast Florida, and the national capital area.

Although Georgia and northeastern Florida have not had a major hurricane impact in a long time, there is no reason they couldn't experience one in the future. The Georgia coastline in particular is shaped like a funnel. Should a hurricane approach the area at precisely the correct angle, this funnel shape would actually serve to concentrate the hurricane's storm surge rather than to dissipate it.

Northeastern Florida is also vulnerable. It is subject to both high winds and storm surge from hurricanes coming in directly from the Atlantic Ocean, as well as from storms such as Wilma that cross over the Florida peninsula from the Gulf of Mexico, where they are not over land for long enough to significantly affect their intensity.* The narrowness of the Florida peninsula means that the Atlantic coast of Florida is in the threat line even of hurricanes that have moved into the Gulf of Mexico, and that the Gulf Coast of Florida is still in the threat line of hurricanes approaching directly from the Atlantic Ocean.

The national capital area, including Washington DC together with its northern Virginia and Maryland suburbs, sits to the north-northwest and just inland of the protruding North Carolina coastline, whose easternmost point is Cape Hatteras.

There is something of a belief in those parts that the "indented" shape of the Virginia and Maryland coastlines relative to North Carolina's protects the Washington area from hurricanes. However, the area did experience a close call with Category-5 Hurricane Isabel in September 2003. Although the storm weakened significantly prior to its landfall to the south of the initial predictions for metropolitan Washington, it could just as easily have subjected the national capital area to a major hurricane impact.

*This part of the discussion was heavily influenced by a powerpoint presentation authored by Steve Letro, Meteorologist in Charge at the NWS Jacksonville Forecast Office, entitled "The Wrong Coast," previously available on the research section of the NWS Jacksonville website.

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