Former Ida a Huge Rainmaker, Causing Flooding in the Mid-Atlantic

The GOES-12 satellite captured this view of the coastal low pressure area on November 12 at 3:01 p.m. ET, drenching the Mid-Atlantic.

GOES-12 is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NASA’s GOES Project that creates GOES imagery is located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

NOAA’s Hydro meteorological Prediction Center said this afternoon that “additional heavy rains of 2 to 4 inches are expected through eastern Virginia…eastern and southern Maryland…Delaware…and New Jersey through Friday morning. Isolated totals around 6 inches are possible.”

Parker’s Creek boat ramp and looking out over the Parker’s Creek Marsh on the sea side of Accomack County, Virginia.

A flooded roadway at Parker’s Creek Marsh on the sea side of Accomack County, Virginia.

The coastal low, formerly known as Ida, is currently quasi-stationary off the North Carolina coast, adding more rain on top of what it has already brought. The low is creating serious flooding from northeast North Carolina to coastal Virginia.

A retired employee of NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility provided photographs of flooded roadways in Accomack County, Virginia, and reported trees down and other damages this afternoon.

What’s interesting is that Ida is a stronger system now as a coastal low pressure system than when it made landfall in Dauphin Island, Alabama as a tropical storm. At that time, its minimum central pressure was 999 millibars. Today, its minimum central pressure is 992 millibars.

At 4 p.m. ET the center of remnants of Ida was located near latitude 35.2 north and longitude 75.8 west, that’s 15 miles west of Hatteras, North Carolina and 65 miles south-southeast of Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The low has maximum sustained winds near 45 mph with higher gusts. Some of those higher gusts have been reported in Hampton, Virginia, and in Accomack County, Virgina.

The low is expected to sit where it is off the North Carolina coast through early Friday before slowly moving eastward. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite GOES-12 noticed that the former Ida hasn’t moved much since this morning.

Ida is one stubborn girl. Her remnants have moved out to sea and reformed as a powerful coastal low pressure system that’s been raining on the mid-Atlantic since Tuesday night, November 10. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-12 captures images of the low’s cloud cover several times every hour, and shows its cloud cover stretching from North Carolina up to Maine. Rains are currently confined to the Mid-Atlantic from North Carolina to New Jersey, but will creep north with the progression of the low.

Forecasts indicate that she’ll continue to rain on the Mid-Atlantic until late Friday and bringing high water, gusty winds, coastal erosion, tidal flooding along coastal areas, and inland flooding.

The GOES-12 satellite will continue to track the low’s progress and provide satellite imagery for forecasters to pinpoint its position as it moves north. GOES is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NASA’s GOES Project, located at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. creates some of the GOES satellite images.

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument that flies onboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of the low’s cloud top temperatures. The colder the temperature, the higher the thunderstorms, and the stronger they are (with heavier rainfall). Infrared imagery on November 11 at 1:30 p.m. ET noticed that the low didn’t have thunderstorms near the top of the troposphere (which would indicate the strongest storms having cloud tops colder that -63 Fahrenheit). Instead, the low did have cloud tops that were about 240 Kelvin, or minus 27F, indicating thunderstorms that are not as powerful as you’d see in a powerful hurricane, but still with the ability to produce a good amount of rainfall.

Significant flooding has been reported in Norfolk, Virginia this morning. Many roads were reported closed during the early morning hours today, November 12. The Chesapeake Bay Tunnel was reported open at 7:42 a.m. ET today, but could close because of the rain.