Skip to content
Weather
Link copied to clipboard
Link copied to clipboard

Tidal flooding, gusts, expected at Shore as Arthur heads out to sea. And better keep watering grass

Minor to moderate flooding is possible at the Jersey Shore Tuesday night. Meanwhile, rainfall deficit is growing.

Coastal flooding along Oxford Place in Pleasantville in November.
Coastal flooding along Oxford Place in Pleasantville in November.Read moreMIGUEL MARTINEZ / File Photograph
    by Anthony R. Wood
    Updated 
    Published 

Tropical Storm Arthur, the first of what is expected to be a busy season, appears destined for an unspectacular career, but it likely will have indirect effects on the Jersey Shore.

Although Arthur is forecast to arc off the coast after it approaches the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the National Weather Service has posted gale warnings for the Atlantic and Delaware Bay waters, with 40 mph gusts possible, from 6 p.m. Monday through late Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, minor coastal flooding is possible Tuesday night, the weather service said, adding that it might have to activate its spotter network.

» READ MORE: Climate change blamed for grim outlook on Jersey Shore flooding, federal report says

Any coastal flooding would have to do with the new moon and the overall set-up in the atmosphere, said Mike Silva, a meteorologist in the weather service’s Mount Holly office.

High pressure, or heavier air, to the north will generate onshore winds from the east; winds circulate clockwise around high centers, and counterclockwise around centers of storms, such as Arthur.

The high is expected to force Arthur farther off the coast, and the official National Hurricane Center has Arthur exiting stage right Monday after its close encounter with the Outer Banks, where a tropical-storm warning is in effect for the just-reopened beaches.

On Monday morning its peak winds were 45 mph, or 6 mph above the minimum threshold for a named storm.

Backlash winds could affect the Jersey coast, and the onshore winds from the high and the astronomical high tidal cycle could set off flooding Tuesday night.

The weather service said flooding was possible as early as Monday night along the Delaware Bay shores.

» READ MORE: In the heart of spring, it hasn’t been this chilly in 54 years in Philadelphia

Regardless, the flirtation with summer evidently is over for now as temperatures will be below normal at least until Friday.

And it appears that Arthur will not bear any significant rains for the region.

So far this month only 0.7 inches of rain has fallen in Philadelphia; that total should close to 2 inches by now.