Tampa

About Tampa

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Storm Surge History

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Infographics

Storm Surge Data

Raw Data

Peak water level

The Tampa data selection circle is centered on the following coordinates: Lat: 27.9313, Lon: -82.4689.

storm-by-storm

about storm surge data

Data Selection

Ideally, storm surge data would be taken from long-term tide gauges. Unfortunately, this is not possible for several reasons:

1. The record length of most tide gauges is not long enough to capture more than several decades of data (there are a few exceptions)
2. Large storm surges exceeding 10 ft (3.05 m) often destroy tide gauges
3. Storm surge is a localized phenomenon, with surge heights often changing considerably over several miles. Therefore, tide gauges usually do not pick up the peak storm surge because the network of gauges is not dense enough

Considering these problems, U-Surge utilizes a circle with a 10-mile (16-km) radius for data capture. This area is optimal, as larger circles capture more data but decrease data homogeneity, but smaller circles do not capture enough observations.

Sea Level Rise

Sea-Level Rise Scenarios Table from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Table of SLR scenarios for St. Petersburg, Florida from CorpsClimate web-tool developed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Data from this table revised August 15, 2017. Available on the Web at: http://corpsclimate.us/ccaceslcurves.cfm.

Sea-Level Rise Graphic from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Graph of SLR scenarios for St. Petersburg, Florida, from CorpsClimate web-tool developed by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Data from this table revised August 15, 2017. Available on the Web at: http://corpsclimate.us/ccaceslcurves.cfm.

Combined Sea-Level Rise Scenarios with 100-year Storm Tide Level

Data Sources

Missing Data

Local Partnership

Resources

Storm Surge Multimedia

Hurricane Isaac (2012)

Check out this "negative" storm surge from Hurricane Isaac in Tampa Bay. A "negative" surge occurs when a hurricane pushes water offshore and coastal locations observe water levels below normal. Such conditions can cause problems for industries that rely on water intake or for marinas and ports that rely on water to float ships. Negative surges can also be dangerous for people who wander onto mudflats, only to find water levels rush back to normal, or above normal levels with a shift in the wind.