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Veterans Day Storm (11-14 Nov 2009)

The strong storm that affected the Mid Atlantic Coast November 11-14th quickly developed multiple identities - the "Veteran's Day Storm," the "Friday 13th Storm" or "Nor'Ida" which recognized that this Nor'easter originated with Hurricane Ida.

No longer a hurricane, Tropical Storm Ida made landfall on the Gulf of Mexico Coast on November 10th. Two days later, it redeveloped as a coastal low pressure system south of Cape Hatteras and intensified. The strong pressure gradient that developed between the coastal low and a high pressure system over New England resulted in strong Northeast winds along the mid-Atlantic. The high pressure system blocked northward movement of the low resulting in three successive high tides with almost 1 m of storm surge and significant precipitation (The FRF recorded a total of 180 mm, or 7" of rainfall). The largest wave (crest to trough) measured from the FRF Waverider buoy (36°15.461N 75°35.479W, depth of 26 m) was 6.5m (21.3ft).

For a weather synopsis of the storm by the National Weather Service in Wakefield, VA along with their Public Information Statements issued during the storm (pdf report, 3 megs)

Below is a summary of the data collected by the FRF along with links to other useful Veteran's storm related information.

Significant wave height 6.49m    21.29ft
Storm surge 1.15m    3.77ft
Max wind gust 25.6m/s    49.7mph
Winds sustained 18.6m/s    36.1mph
 
This significant wave height was computed for a 53 minute record. Wind gust is computed for a 5 second average and sustained is a 60s average. Here are links to more data taken at the FRF.
Data Tables WIND WAVE TIDE
Data Plots WIND WAVE TIDE
Storm Photographs by Bill Birkemeier

Kitty Hawk to Nags Head
South Nags Head
FRF Pier


Photographs of South Nags Heads in the area of Seagull Drive taken during the storm, by Charles Rocknak.
His images are taken daily and the repeated views illustrate the changes that occured.

November 12
November 13
November 14


Other Links Concerning the Storm

  • NOAA high resolution aerial imagery covering the shoreline from Cape Henlopen, DE to Cape Hatteras, NC

  • Photos of Rodanthe, NC taken during the storm by Bryan Elkus

  • OuterBanksFreePress Storm Stories & Photos

  • Download a KMZ file of Bill Birkemeier's Kitty Hawk to South Nags Head images for viewing Google Earth (12 megs)