Formerly referred to as Subtropical Storm Nicole, the Atlantic latecomer determined she’s extra “domme” than “sub” and strengthened right into a tropical storm on Tuesday.
As she closes in on Florida’s east coast, meteorologists count on Nicole will turn into a Category 1 hurricane by the point the storm makes landfall someplace round Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie counties. If that does transpire, it will cement a novel standing for Nicole’s entry up to now century’s storm catalog.
“If it manages to accentuate only a tiny bit right into a Category 1 when it hits Florida, that may be a very uncommon factor. We’ve solely had one different hurricane to hit anyplace in South or Central Florida in November,” notes Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher with the University of Miami.
The final late bloomer to reach this late within the season was the Yankee Hurricane of 1935 (they did not have folks names again then). Since the Category 2 storm hit what’s now Bal Harbour on November 4, 1935, no hurricane has made landfall in South or Central Florida post-Halloween.
Nicole is already placing in an effort to make Miami historical past in small methods, even earlier than she makes landfall.
Winds from Tropical Storm Nicole mingled with a Tuesday-night full moon and rising seas for a record-breaking excessive tide in Miami on Wednesday morning.
High tide round 9 a.m. Wednesday reached about 2.9 toes above common sea stage, based on McNoldy and US Harbors. That is the best tide the Magic City has seen since nearly precisely two years in the past, when Tropical Storm Eta churned up the Atlantic in November of 2020.
McNoldy says Miamians ought to take note of the tides and storm-surge warnings within the subsequent few days as a result of, to place it indelicately, Nicole is a giant woman.
“As a tropical storm proper now, it’s on the very, very massive dimension. A storm with a big wind discipline is absolutely good at creating a bigger storm surge,” McNoldy explains.
Current projections have Nicole’s winds engulfing nearly everything of Florida, and as McNoldy warns, which means the danger of excessive tides and flooding shall be a lot increased and final for much longer than a storm of comparable energy however extra diminutive dimensions.
While Miamians are lucky in avoiding the worst of Nicole — maybe thanks in no small half to brujeria — South Floridians ought to nonetheless be cautious of the shoreline for the following few days and take a look at to not drive via massive our bodies of standing water. Or surf via them, for that matter, except they will snag some cool video of it.