Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| John Brooks Beach Saturday Morning. |
I went out to take a quick look this morning. The beach had changed since the last time I was there. I've been watching the weather and wanted to show how the beach changed since I was last there, which was Wednesday. Below is the photo I took Wednesday.
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| John Brooks Beach As It Looked Wednesday. |
As you can see, there was a cut, but it is no longer there. Sand got pushed up onto the beach.
If you watch the forecasts and the weather, as I've been doing and then check the baches, you'll see how they relate. That is how photos a few days old can help you. You see where the beaches are starting and you can see what has happened.
So why did this beach fill when there was a northeast wind? You might have noticed that at least a few times in the past couple of days, instead of calling it a northeast wind, I called it a east/northeast wind. The beach doesn't run exactly north to south. It has a bit of a west to east slant to it, so a northeast wind, unless it is more north/northeast will actually hit a beach like this almost straight on. There wasn't enough of an angle to erode this beach. Rather the modest waves just pushed a little sand up onto the beach.
I've talked a lot about angles in the past years, and I think more people talk about angles these days. Back ten or maybe twenty years ago, they talked mostly about wave size, although there was a good bit of talk about northeasters.
South winds can produce erosion too, but tend to do it less often than north winds. We had a good example of that either last year of the year before I forget exactly when that was.
There are also some beaches that are more vulnerable to south winds and waves. Remember, beaches aren't straight, and so the angle of the beach changes as the shoreline curves. Some beaches will cut while others build.
Here is the other picture I took this morning.
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| John Brooks Beach Saturday Morning. |
And here is the same beach as seen Wednesday.
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| John Brooks Beach As It Looked Wednesday Morning. |
Again, you can see the cut disappeared. The newly deposited sand on the slope this morning was mushy, as you would expect.
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| Source: nhc.noaa.gov. |
Here is this morning's National Hurricane Center map. Notice the system on the left coming up towards Florida. I'll address that one first by posting a summary of a forecast that DJ sent to me from the Weather Tiger's Hurricane Watch. Here it is.
While it is too soon to make a specific prediction for how this will all play out next week, Florida is in for some nasty weather in the Tuesday to Thursday timeframe. Depending on where the center forms, how much dry air the storm pulls in, and how much time it has over water, the most likely outcomes range a from rainy, lopsided tropical storm to something more like Hurricane Hermine or even somewhat stronger. This does not look like an Ian-like situation due to limited time over water and dry air.
While there is always some uncertainty is forecasts, this is something to watch as it develops.
Here is the NHC cone for Franklin.
Here is what a model on Windy.com shows for Monday morning.
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| Windy.com ECMWF Model Product for Monday 9AM. |
You can see the one system developing some as it leaves the Yucatan and heads towards Florida. that is the one discussed above.
You can also see what could be hurricane Franklin to the east of Florida. It is supposed to stay pretty far out. Notice the south winds rounding the tip of Florida.
For the next day or two, our winds won't change a lot, but are expected to become more southerly by Monday.
That is it for today.
I might have some more photos of other beaches to post later.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net