While Hurricanes Imelda and Humberto pursue their “rare” relationship in the North Atlantic, the Philadelphia region will be experiencing some of the backlash.
The twin storms continue to churn the ocean while they pull away, and the National Weather Service has issued coastal flood advisories for the Jersey Shore, and areas along the Delaware River.
The advisories are in effect from 2 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Shore, and from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday in the vicinity of the river.
With the ocean’s “long period swells,” said Ray Martin, a lead meteorologist at the National Weather Service Office in Mount Holly, “we’re going to see some tidal-piling along the coast and back bays.”
Also, the contrasts between the low pressure of the storms and the strong high that is driving them out to sea is generating stiff onshore winds that could gust up to 40 mph in the beach towns.
Some road closures are possible in the Philly region
At the Shore and in the Philly area, flooding could lead to some road closures, the weather service says.
High tide along the Jersey coast occurs at 3 p.m., and at 10 p.m. along the Delaware.
The river is forecast to crest at 8.7 feet at Washington Avenue, about a half-foot above the minor-flood level.
Imelda and Humberto continue to plunge the Atlantic
Once-mighty Humberto, about 350 miles north of Bermuda, was on the verge of losing its identity late Wednesday morning, its peak winds down to 70 mph, 4 mph shy of hurricane strength.
The National Hurricane Center said it would cease issuing Humberto advisories.
To Humberto’s southwest, Imelda was well off the Carolina coast, with top winds at 100 mph, following Humberto’s lead into the far North Atlantic.
Imelda’s cloud shield, which helped ignite spectacular sunsets in the Philly region and elsewhere in the East, was pulling away from the coast.
The interaction of Humberto and Imelda has been “definitely a rare occurrence,” said Robbie Berg, the hurricane center’s warning coordination chief. However, he added, it would be impossible to know if it were unprecedented.
For now, the tropics are quiet, and this marks the first time in 10 years that not one hurricane has made U.S. landfall by this point in the season, AccuWeather Inc. reported.
And the weather around here into next week will be the antithesis of stormy, with sun and highs around 70 degrees through the workweek and warming into what looks like a gorgeous weekend.