Tropical Storm — Coastal Glynn, Georgia

2022-09-29 to 2022-09-30 · Coastal Glynn, Georgia

Event narrative

Tropical storm force winds (mainly TS gusts) and storm surge impacted Glynn county.

Trees were blown down on St. Simons Island, Jekyll Island and within Brunswick city limits. There was damage to a cell phone town on the southern end of Jekyll Island. Shell Road on Jekyll Island was closed due to debris blocking the road. Tropical storm force winds prompted closure of the Sidney Lanier Bridge. Power lines were blown down across the City of Brunswick, Jekyll Island and along the New Jesup Highway near Pyles Marsh.

Storm surge inundation caused road closures at the end of Ocean Road on St. Simons Island and along Highway 17/Glynn Avenue in the City of Brunswick from Coffin Park to the FJ Torres Causeway. There was additional storm surge flooding along Oak Grove Road, west of Interstate 95, along a tributary called Cowpen Creek.

Peak winds at the St. Simons Island ASOS (KSSI) reached 32 mph sustained on Sept. 29th at 12:02 pm EDT. The peak gust measured at this location was 54 mph on Sept. 29th at 11:26 am. The peak winds at Brunswick (KBQK) Golden Isles Airport were 27 mph on Sept. 29th at 12:15 pm. The peak wind gust measured at this location was 37 mph measured on Sept. 30th at 8:15 pm EDT. At a mesonet site on Jekyll Island measured 40 mph sustained winds on Sept. 29th at 7:48 am EDT with a peak gust of 52 mph on Sept. 29th at 6:24 am.

Storm surge inundation of 2.73 ft MHHW datum was measured on Sept. 29th at 12:15 pm at St. Simons Island.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Ian made landfall as a powerful Category 4 Hurricane on the SW Florida peninsula coast near Punta Gorda on Wednesday, September 28th. The center tracked NE across south-central FL, north of Lake Okeechobee through Wednesday Night and then moved offshore of the central FL Atlantic coast Thursday Morning, September 29th, just near Cape Canaveral as a Tropical Storm. Ian regained Category 1 Hurricane Strength offshore of the northeast Florida Atlantic coast as it tracked NNE into Thursday Night and Friday morning as it made landfall along the South Carolina Atlantic coast. Locally, a strong nor'easter developed through the day Wednesday, September 28th, as a front lifted northward up the FL peninsula ahead of Ian. Tropical Storm force winds and bands of rainfall started to impact northeast Florida through the day Wednesday, the peak in local winds through the day Thursday as Ian's center tracked northward and offshore of the local Atlantic coast. Water levels increased within the St. Johns River basin Wednesday due to the strong nor'easter and annually high spring tides already created water level departures of 0.5 to 1 ft MHHW datum prior to the nor'easter further 'charging' the St. Johns River basin. The peak storm surge along the local Atlantic coast occurred Thursday, then the peak surge pressed into the St. Johns River basin Thursday night into Friday morning. Major to moderate tidal flooding continued into the weekend especially for Putnam, St. Johns and Flagler counties where trapped tides and northerly flow caused extended tidal flooding. Record setting rainfall occurred across the headwaters of the St. Johns River across east-central Florida, and water levels increased the week after Ian passed as the St. Johns River drains south to north, which was also leading up to the peak Spring tides between Oct 8th through Oct 11th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1053714. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.