17 January 2016
Meteo-Tsunami in Naples Area
Posted by Dan Satterfield
A rare event seems to have happened in SW Florida this morning, as a strong squall line moved through. It’s called a meteo-tsunami, and it pushed water levels up by over 5 feet! The squall line also produced at least two tornadoes, with one of them causing significant damage to 14 homes near Cape Coral. A real clue that this was indeed a meteo tsunami, is the pressure couplet recorded by the Naples tide buoy.

Note the drop in pressure as the squall line approached. Then the pressure jump at 5 AM. This, and the winds, are key to this event.
Dr. Marshall Shepherd at the University of Georgia (Past President of the AMS) has more on this event and just what a meteo tsunami is here.
It’s dfficult to get worked up when neither plot has a vertical scale.