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Friday marks the beginning of the Florida Royal Tides, a term for the highest tides of any period. These high tides follow a cycle – after all, the tides are caused by the moon and follow a predictable pattern. Royal tides, sometimes called spring tides, usually appear in spring and fall. (Although the term "spring tides" refers to spring as in the action, not to the season).
However, this latest series of royal tides in Florida will be reinforced by a dangerous alignment of factors: First, the moon will be particularly close to the Earth, an event called "perigee". (Remember that the moon rotates around the Earth in an elliptical pattern, so its distance is not always the same.) Two, fall tides in Florida are usually the highest of the year because the water is at its hottest point.
"The sun has cooked the ocean all summer in the tropics and the ocean has literally grown," said CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller.
A dangerous "perfect storm"
All of these things will combine to form a high tide event and, with Dorian 's approach, things could become seriously dangerous.
"The hurricane will feed on this hot water and become stronger, then the winds will push all the water, further raising the water level and pushing them back to shore," Miller said.
In other words, the two events feed on each other, probably contributing to much more dangerous storm surges.
"The fact that this storm hits during the highest tides of the year is very worrying," Miller said. "Adding a couple of feet to the water's height of The King Tides is almost as if the storm was a bigger category."
Something like the royal tides could mean that those who would usually be far enough away from the threat of the storm could actually be in danger. Miller recommends to those who are in the star Dorian trajectory as far as possible inside and at the same altitude.
Ultimately, the best thing for people to do is to listen to the national and local weather authorities and get away from the area if needed.
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