How sea level rise made Idalia’s storm surge worse – the Washington Post
![Geo Color imagery of post-tropical Cyclone Idalia (courtesy of NOAA, public domain).](https://coastalcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20232452310-20232460440-GOES16-ABI-AL102023-GEOCOLOR-1000x1000-1-798x798.gif)
In mid-November 2021, a great storm begins brewing in the central Pacific Ocean north of Hawai‘i. Especially warm water, heated by the sun, steams off the sea surface and funnels into the sky.
A tendril of this floating moisture sweeps eastward across the ocean. It rides the winds for a day until it reaches the coasts of British Columbia and Washington State. There, the storm hits air turbulence, which pushes it into position—straight over British Columbia’s Fraser River valley….