High Surf — Lower Baldwin, Alabama

2009-11-09 to 2009-11-10 · Lower Baldwin, Alabama

Event narrative

High surf and extensive wave run-up along the Baldwin County beaches resulted in an estimated 9 million dollar loss of beach sand along the resort areas from Fort Morgan east to Orange Beach. 20 foot waves also damaged portions of the Gulf State Park Pier near Gulf Shores, which had recently re-opened after being destroyed by Hurricane Ivan. Most of the damage to the pier was from damage to railings, plumbing and outdoor lighting from the movable deck panels being moved by the waves. No dollar damage estimates were available from the Gulf State Park Pier officials.

Wider weather episode

During the early morning hours of 10 November 2009 (540 AM CST), Tropical Storm Ida made initial landfall near Dauphin Island, Alabama with maximum sustained winds near 45 mph with locally higher gusts. A second landfall occurred around 6 AM CST near Bon Secour, Alabama. Wind and storm surge effects were relatively minimal along the Alabama and extreme northwestern Florida coastlines, with beach erosion being the primary impacts along the Alabama Gulf Coast. It should be noted that surface winds became quite gusty after Ida moved well away from the region and surface high pressure began to move in form the west on the evening after landfall.

Before Ida made landfall, it produced heavy rains across southwest Alabama causing localized flash flooding in southern Baldwin County with minor urban and small stream flooding in other parts of southern Alabama.

Ida formed into a tropical depression on 4 November in the southwestern Caribbean Sea. The cyclone endured approximately 10 days before making landfall on the U.S. North Central Gulf Coast. It achieved hurricane intensity twice and Category 2 intensity once prior to moving through the Yucatan Straights and into the southern Gulf of Mexico on 8 November. It reached peak intensity of 105 mph on Sunday evening 8 November while over the southern Gulf of Mexico. After that time, Hurricane Ida encountered very strong vertical wind shear north of 25.0 N latitude and much cooler sea water temperatures which prevented further intensification. Ida responded by gradually weakening before making landfall as a Tropical Storm over Dauphin Island, Alabama on the morning of the 10th, before dissipating over the Florida panhandle a few hours later.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 204002. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.