Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Source: nhc.noaa.gov. |
The Atlantic is pretty quiet now. Going by the past couple of years, I'd think we are transitioning from hurricane season, although it is still possible to have one or more. The last couple of years we started to get some erosion from cold fronts coming through in October, and then some good erosion in November.
Of course, the legendary Thanksgiving storm of 1984 is a great example of some great November metal detecting. November has provided some very good metal detecting the last couple of years too. Maybe that trend will continue.
The 1984 storm provides a good example. You might find the following discussion of the Thanksgiving Storm from NOAA helpful.
...The meteorological conditions just described produced one of the most damaging storms to affect the eastern coastal sections of Florida during the past several decades. Much of the damage from Fernandina Beach southward to North Miami Beach, nearly 400 miles, was caused by the easterly winds of gale force with gusts as high as 60 miles an hour blowing for nearly four days. This action of the wind over the ocean produced shoreward moving swells of around 20 feet which pounded the Florida east coast and produced the most severe beach erosion in recent years in many areas. An example of the destruction was the reduction of the newly completed l100 foot pier at St. Augustine to 300 feet. Sand dunes were obliterated leaving barrier islands void of any natural protection against the next onslaught of a coastal storm in the future. To add to the destructiveness, the highest monthly astronomical tide period coincided with the highest period of storm tides which occurred on the morning of Thursday and Friday, the 22nd and 23rd. All of this produced tides 4 to 6 feet above mean yea level (MSL} at times of high tide. In some places, this was the highest tide in the last 30 years. Alt Mayport, Florida, just north of Jacksonville, the tide of 5.2 feet above MSL was the third highest tide of record. Much of state road A1A, the famous coastal highway, was closed in Indian River County between Vero Beach and Sebastian Inlet because of high water. In this area several beach front buildings collapsed, and 600 to 1,000 people were ordered to evacuate their homes. In Palm Beach County, five blocks of A1A were seriously damaged by the high tides and heavy surf. Bridges were closed because of flooded approaches which caused some barrier islands including the large Hutchinson Island to become isolated for periods of time around the time of high tide. In the storm's aftermath, severe coastal beach erosion stretched from Jacksonville to Palm Beach. ...
At the West Palm Beach weather office, a new station rainfall record was set on Thanksgiving Day for the greatest amount in a calendar day, 7.41 inches....
Another factor was that these strong onshore winds continued for many days. Winds of near gale force (about 40 miles an hour) began blowing along the north Florida coast the evening of the 20th. They did not subside until late on the 24th. Therefore, much of Florida experienced strong onshore winds for about 4 whole days. These winds were frequently between 30 and 40 miles an hour. The direction of the winds was from the north northeast which is probably the best angle of incidence for beach erosion along the coast from Fernandina Beach to Palm Beach. The coastline south of Palm Beach was spared from most of the adverse effects of the storm because the wind was actually blowing offshore throughout much of the storm. However, this northwest wind caused significant damage to the coastlines of the western Bahama Islands Friday and Saturday. This was all due to the position of the storm center remaining over Grand Bahama Island from early Thursday morning through early Saturday...
As noted earlier, the time of the month that the storm occurred was coincident with the highest astronomical tides of the month and nearly the highest spring tide of the year. Tide tables indicated that the highest predicted tides for the month of November fell on the mornings of the 22nd and the 23rd, exactly during the time of the highest storm tide. Reports from the storm survey teams of the Florida Department of Natural Resources indicate that the storm tide was over 6 feet above low mean water. Tide gauge readings at Mayport were 7.5 feet above mean low water or 5.2 feet above mean sea level. The one factor of the storm episode which magnified the entire situation was the nearly stationary nature of the storm for 3 days. This lack of movement produced the prolonged onshore winds which resulted in at least 4 days of heavy surf pounding the shore. Portions of the coastline experienced 9 high tides during this period, with each succeeding high tide higher than the previous one, thus making the erosion of sand greater with each tide. These are the reasons for the extensive damage that resulted from this particular storm....
I know a lot was found on the Treasure Coast after the hurricanes too.
An old issue of Lost Treasure Magazine (I hope to find it again ) once reported that during the Thanksgiving weekend of 1984 over 2,000 silver coins and at least 16 gold coins were recovered by metal detectorists. It was reported that "The coins lay on the hard coquina bottom under a layer of sand and silt and had been there since the day the Regla, Capitana of the 1715 Spanish treasure fleet, came ashore."
I originally posted the material from NOAA on the Thanksgiving Storm in a previous post some years ago. Here is the link.
Cold weather is starting up north and eventually we will be seeing some cold fronts coming our way.
Foxweather.com headlines, Frost, freeze alerts blanket parts of northern US as sprawling fall storm brings major cooldown for millions.
Here is the link.
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Debate settled? Oldest human footprints in North America really are 23,000 years old, study finds.===
Neither the surf nor the tides are as high now. The surf is only around two or three feet.
Good hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net