Weather: coastal flooding potential?

Self-tutoring about local weather: the tutor mentions something that surprised him.

The following is according to my understanding.

I am always interested in the weather. I check it every morning, partly because I do a lot of work outside.

Starting yesterday, as I recall, but continuing today, I saw, on the weather page, a “Coastal Flooding Statement.” I can’t recall seeing one of those, so read it with interest. It mentions a possibility of coastal flooding connected to “elevated ocean water levels” combined with a storm event.

We get storms commonly here, with lots of wind and rain, especially this time of year. However, the idea of “elevated ocean water levels” intrigued me. A storm, to my knowledge, is unlikely to cause that.

Yet, it seems a supermoon can, because it can cause a higher tide than normal. We apparently had a supermoon yesterday, and one might imagine its effect could linger. A supermoon is a full moon at a time when the moon reaches its closet position to Earth. The moon’s orbit about Earth isn’t quite a circle, so it includes closest and furthest points.

Therefore, it seems that, with a supermoon happening, tides can be higher, giving the temporary effect of elevated ocean water levels, and so on.

Source:

science.nasa.gov