You're standing on a beach in Florida or maybe the Philippines. The sky turns a bruised purple, the wind starts screaming, and the ocean begins to swallow the coastline. Most people look at that wall of water and call it a tsunami. It makes sense, right? It’s a massive amount of water hitting the land. But if you asked a geophysicist at NOAA or a researcher at the National Hurricane Center, they’d tell you that while it looks like a tsunami, it’s actually a storm surge.
So, let's get into the big question: can a hurricane cause a tsunami?
The short answer is no, not in the way we usually think of them.
True tsunamis are geological. They’re born from the earth shaking, usually when tectonic plates snap under the ocean floor or a massive chunk of an island slides into the sea. Hurricanes are atmospheric. They are massive heat engines fueled by warm water and air pressure. They operate on two completely different physical planes. However—and this is where it gets weird—hurricanes can occasionally trigger something called a meteotsunami.
It’s a real thing. It sounds like a made-up Syfy channel movie title, but it’s a legitimate meteorological phenomenon that can be just as deadly as the "real" thing.
The fundamental difference between a surge and a wave
When a hurricane like Ian or Katrina hits, the water rises because the wind is literally "plowing" the ocean toward the shore. Low atmospheric pressure in the center of the storm also allows the sea level to rise slightly, like a straw sucking water upward. This is a storm surge. It lasts for hours. It’s a slow, relentless rise.
A tsunami is different.
Think of a tsunami like a massive ripple in a pond after you throw a heavy rock in. The energy travels through the entire water column, from the surface all the way down to the dark abyss of the ocean floor. When that energy hits shallow water near the coast, it compresses and grows tall. A hurricane’s wind mostly affects the surface.
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Meteotsunamis: The exception to the rule
Even though a hurricane doesn't move tectonic plates, it can create a meteotsunami.
This happens when there is a sudden, intense change in air pressure—the kind you get with a fast-moving squall line or a rapidly intensifying hurricane eye wall. If that pressure change moves at the exact same speed as the ocean waves below it, they "lock" together. This creates resonance. The air pressure pushes the water, the water pushes back, and suddenly you have a wave that behaves exactly like a seismic tsunami.
Back in 2013, a meteotsunami hit the coast of New Jersey. People were standing on the docks at Barnegat Inlet when a three-foot wave suddenly swept them into the water. There was no earthquake. There wasn't even a major storm directly overhead at that moment. It was a "jump" in air pressure that had traveled across the ocean.
Scientists like Dr. Greg Dusek from NOAA have spent years trying to figure out how to better predict these things. They are incredibly sneaky. You don't get the "withdrawal" of water that you see with a regular tsunami. It just arrives.
Why the distinction actually matters for your life
You might think it's just semantics. Who cares what it’s called if your house is underwater?
Well, the emergency response is totally different. If a tsunami is coming, you have minutes to get to high ground. If a hurricane is coming, you have days to evacuate. If we confuse the two, we mess up the warning systems.
What happens when they overlap?
Sometimes, a hurricane can trigger an underwater landslide. Imagine a massive pile of silt and sand sitting on the edge of the continental shelf. A category 5 hurricane comes along and the sheer force of the waves and the pressure changes destabilize that underwater "cliff." If that cliff collapses, that causes a tsunami.
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In this scenario, the hurricane didn't directly cause the tsunami, but it acted as the trigger. It’s like a person shouting and causing an avalanche. The shout didn't move the snow; the gravity did. But the shout was the catalyst.
Real-world examples of the confusion
During the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, many survivors thought they were experiencing a weird storm. Conversely, during Hurricane Sandy, people in New York and New Jersey described the surge as a "tsunami" because of the speed at which it flooded the streets.
Honestly, the term "tsunami" has become a bit of a catch-all for "scary water." But from a safety perspective, you need to know what you're dealing with. A storm surge stays high for a long time—sometimes through multiple tide cycles. A tsunami or meteotsunami is usually a series of waves that come and go relatively quickly.
The physics of the "Squall Line"
If a hurricane is moving toward the coast, it often sends out "precursor" squalls. These are lines of intense thunderstorms that move much faster than the hurricane itself. These squalls are the primary breeding ground for meteotsunamis.
- Speed: The squall must move at a specific speed (usually around 20-50 knots).
- Depth: The water needs to be a specific depth for the wave to "catch" the wind's energy.
- Direction: The wave has to be moving toward a narrowing bay or inlet to gain height.
When these three things align, a hurricane can effectively "launch" a meteotsunami toward the coast hours before the actual storm makes landfall. It’s a double whammy.
Can a hurricane cause a tsunami in the deep ocean?
In the deep ocean, a hurricane is just a bunch of big waves. It’s chaotic, but it’s surface-level. Tsunamis, however, are barely visible in the deep ocean. A ship in the middle of the Atlantic wouldn't even feel a tsunami pass under it; it might only be a few inches high but moving at 500 miles per hour.
A hurricane, on the other hand, would toss that ship like a toy.
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The scale is just different. A hurricane covers hundreds of miles. A tsunami is a thin line of energy. This is why a hurricane cannot generate a traditional tsunami through wind alone. The physics of moving a whole column of water from the surface to the floor requires a massive displacement of volume—something a hurricane's wind just can't do.
Identifying the danger signs
Since you can't always rely on a phone alert for a meteotsunami (they are notoriously hard to track), you have to use your eyes.
- Watch the tide: If the tide suddenly rushes out or rushes in far faster than a normal tide, something is wrong.
- Listen to the sky: If a massive, dark shelf cloud is approaching and the wind suddenly drops to a dead calm, a pressure jump might be happening.
- Check the barometer: If you have a weather station at home and see a vertical "spike" or "drop" in pressure, stay away from the shoreline.
Actionable steps for coastal residents
The reality is that whether it's a storm surge or a meteotsunami, the water wins.
You need to know your elevation. Not just "I live near the beach," but "my floorboards are exactly 12 feet above sea level." You can find this on local flood maps or by using a GPS-based altimeter app.
Next, stop calling every flood a tsunami. It sounds pedantic, but accuracy saves lives. If you tell someone a tsunami is coming, they might run to a sturdy building. If you tell them a hurricane is coming, they might try to board up windows. If a meteotsunami is triggered by a hurricane, you need to do both: get high and stay inside.
Check the NOAA Tsunami Warning Center (tsunami.gov) even during a hurricane. They monitor the pressure sensors (DART buoys) in the ocean. If those buoys pick up a wave that doesn't match the wind speed, they’ll put out a notice.
Keep a battery-powered weather radio. Don't rely on Wi-Fi. When the pressure drops and the waves start "locking," the internet is usually the first thing to go. Understanding that a hurricane can trigger these secondary water events is the first step in not being caught off guard when the water starts rising faster than the forecast predicted.
Take the time today to look up your local "evacuation zone." These zones are calculated based on surge and wave height potential. If you’re in Zone A, it doesn't matter if it's a surge, a tsunami, or a meteotsunami—you need a plan to be elsewhere. Knowledge is the only thing that works when the atmosphere and the ocean decide to team up.