Each autumn my family and I visit the gorgeous stretch of beaches on 30A (along the Florida panhandle). 99% of our visits have been met with pristine conditions, and I can count on one hand how many times (not all day washouts) rain has chased us inside.
For reference on what these beaches typically look like this time of year, I wanted to share a couple photos from last year’s trip. For those who haven’t been to Santa Rosa, Seaside, or Grayton Beach, this is what you normally can expect, including clear water and sugar-white sand. That is unless a hurricane threatens. While officially making landfall well to our west (roughly 150 miles in Gulf Shores, AL), the impacts were significant along the Florida panhandle. As Sally pushes inland, things are now slowly beginning to diminish here along the coast. It looks like we’ll finish this event in Grayton Beach with just shy of 19” of rain, 88 MPH winds, and at least 2 attempts of water spouts (not confirmed due to the intensity of rain and being at night).
Note the radar signatures around 1:45a this morning.
And again just after 4:30a.
It’s still tough to get out and explore the damage in our neighborhood, but a quick scan shows some of the impacts to houses, especially roofs and front porches.
The surf has also been something to behold. Many times, as the photos to begin showed, it’s tough to get 1’ to 2’ waves. This storm produced 12’ to 14’ waves, locally, along with a 4’ storm surge. In my 36 years, I’ve, personally, never seen waves like this on these beaches- including Michael, Ivan, and Opal.
See some of the videos I recorded this morning below:
Normally, this home is 50-75 yards away from the oceanfront.
The storm is, thankfully, now beginning to wind down here and we’re fully expecting to be back out on the beautiful beaches (though we know they’ll look very different from what we’re accustomed to) for an evening sunset. Our friends across the southeast states now will have to deal with flooding rain, gusty winds, and quick spin-up tornado potential between now and Friday evening.