Rare blue supermoon could make Hurricane Idalia hit Florida even harder

The moon’s gravitational pull is even stronger when it is closer to Earth, causing the tides to rise even higher

A rare blue supermoon could make the impact of Hurricane Idalia on northern Florida even harder, according to weather experts.

As the Category 3 hurricane made landfall in Florida on Wednesday morning the full moon, caused by it being at its closest to Earth, will create higher tides through intensified gravitational pull.

The National Hurricane Center announced at 7.45am that the “extremely dangerous Category 3” storm had made landfall, bringing maximum sustained winds of 125 mph and catastrophic storm surge to the Sunshine State.

The supermoon is expected to make the tidal flooding worse in Florida, as well as Georgia and South Carolina, which are in the downgraded hurricane’s path.

The moon’s gravitational pull is even stronger when it is closer to Earth, causing the tides to be even higher.

“I would say the timing is pretty bad for this one,” said Brian Haines, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Charleston, South Carolina.

Some tides could be up to a foot higher than usual because of the moon.

The National Hurricane Center projected on Tuesday that the storm surge could be up to 15 feet on parts of Florida’s west coast, while it could reach up to 7 feet around the Tampa Bay area.

The Big Bend area of Florida where the hurricane is expected to make landfall is particularly vulnerable to storm surge because of its geography.

The continental shelf stretches a long way out from the coast and has a gradual slope allowing the ocean to grow higher as it is driven towards land, Brian Tang, associate professor of atmospheric science at the University at Albany in New York told The Associated Press.

“There’s a saying that you hide from the wind and run from the water, and hopefully people are heeding that advice,” he said.

This supermoon is the biggest and brightest of 2023 and will be “exceptionally close” to Earth at 222,043 miles, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac. This is nearly 17,000 miles closer than average.

The Associated Press contributed to this report