Going into this last weekend the forecast was tricky. The models were handling the area of low pressure that would sit offshore differently. While the rain forecast was a curve ball at times, the wind and tide forecasts went about as expected.
Some of the coastal winds did gust to over 40 mph, but most were between 25-35 mph.
The area of low pressure has finally started moving to the east. The rain and clouds have moved offshore as well. Now high pressure is building in from the west.
As high pressure builds into the region it will still create a pressure gradient between the low offshore. So our winds will be out the north again today, but they won’t be as strong as the weekend. They will run out of the north at 10-20 mph with gusts to 25mph. There will be some gusts to 30 mph near the shore. However, the winds should all decrease this afternoon as the low gets farther away.
The north breeze will keep high temperatures down a bit, but the strong sunshine will put us in the mid 60s this afternoon.
The wind will create some more tidal flooding today. It will be minor for many areas along the Chesapeake Bay. This will be during the mid-late morning
There will be a couple of spots like Kiptopeke and near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel that will have some brief moderate tidal flooding. However, it will be major again for the Outer Banks.
Yesterday morning the water level at Duck, North Carolina, made it up to 6.87 feet. There was a lot of ocean overwash, and this ended flooding out part of Highway 12.
The tide forecast down there today will be close to that level. The forecast was aiming for around 7 feet, but looking at the latest levels I think it will be just a bit under that. The winds were just a little overforecast for this morning by the models. So let’s hope I’m right. Either way there will be more ocean overwash today and more beach erosion down there. The record tide at Duck was from Hurricane Isabel in 2003. That level was 7.8 feet.
Tomorrow the winds will decrease, and the sun will be out. So it will be a very nice day. High temps will be in the low 70s. We’ll have similar weather Wednesday and Thursday. Then we’ll have some rain move in on Friday.
Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler
