Impacts

What is storm surge?

Storm surge is an abnormal rise of water generated by a storm, above the predicted astronomical tide. Its impacts can occur far from the storm center, so the forecast cone alone is not an impact map.

Why track and impact are different

The center forecast describes where the cyclone center may travel. Coastal water impacts depend on storm size, intensity, angle of approach, coastline shape, bathymetry, and tide timing.

How we will display it

When official NHC storm-surge products are available, Storm Incoming will display them as an official map layer and keep derived summaries visually separate.

Primary source: National Hurricane Center.