How Blue Supermoon could impact ‘unprecedented’ Hurricane Idalia in Florida

Blue Supermoon: The moon's gravitational pulls are even stronger when it's closer to Earth.

A rare Blue Supermoon could raise tides above normal as Hurricane Idalia hit Florida’s west coast. This could result in more flooding from the storm as the moon comes closest to the Earth. The “unprecedented" hurricane hit Keaton Beach in Florida's sparsely populated Big Bend region with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph. The Blue Supermoon could intensify the gravitational pull and make tides higher. “I would say the timing is pretty bad for this one,” Brian Haines, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in South Carolina, said.

The August Super Blue Moon sets behind the CN tower in Toronto. (AP)

This means that tidal flooding would be worse not only in Florida but in states such as Georgia and South Carolina. When the moon is full, the sun and the moon are pulling in the same direction, which has the effect of increasing tides above normal ranges, Kerry Emanuel, professor emeritus of atmospheric science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said.

The moon's gravitational pulls are even stronger when it's closer to Earth. This can result in the tides getting even higher. The ocean water could be up to 15 feet along parts of Florida’s west coast, the National Hurricane Center projected. Farther south, up to 7 feet of storm surge is expected in the Tampa Bay area, it was forecasted.

"There’s a saying that you hide from the wind and run from the water, and hopefully people are heeding that advice,” Brian Tang, associate professor of atmospheric science at University at Albany in New York, said.

The part of northwest Florida where Idalia made landfall is especially vulnerable to storm surge because of the region's geography, he explained.