Another strong weather system is expected this weekend with hazardous boating conditions, rip currents and pounding surf. Forecasters say the tornado risk and storm conditions won’t be as bad in south Florida as they were last weekend when Naples experienced a meteotsunami.
An active jet stream, enhanced by the current El Nino, will send yet another strong cold front across Florida Friday. Parts of southwest Florida are still recovering from last weekend’s storms. Naples Airport recorded a peak wind gust of 84 miles an hour. And Meteorologist Tom Molleda with the National Weather Service in Miami said just after 5:00 am Sunday the area recorded a rare meteotsunami.
“These waves move much faster than average waves and that’s one of the characteristics of tsunami waves,” said Molleda. “In addition these waves that are caused by weather systems that resemble or have similar characteristics to tsunamis especially regarding their movement. They tend to move pretty quickly. For example these squall lines or the line of storms that triggered these waves, that line was moving at about 50 to 60 miles an hour. So it’s likely that those waves were probably moving at about the same speed.”
And when it hit the shore, it hit with a pretty strong impact. Molleda said he can’t rule out another meteotsunami with this weekend’s system however it’s less likely because this storm is not as strong. But they’re hard to predict. And there are no warnings.
Molleda said last weekend’s meteotsunami caused beach erosion. This weekend’s strong on-shore winds may make it worse.