WeatherEye
Where We Are
On Shifting Sand 

Our Wonderful Island...

Take a look at the map of our island. Pensacola Beach is on Santa Rosa Island, a strip of sand that lies just off shore from the mainland.

This is called a "Barrier Island," because our island forms a barrier in front of the Pensacola shore line and Pensacola Bay. We shield the inward areas, taking the main force of the waves.

Most times the waves are nice! Surfers come here, because the bay doesn't have our nice waves. We also have water on both sides...the active Gulf waters to the south, and the calmer waters of the Bay and the Waterway on the other side.

When hurricanes hit, however, the waves turn terrible.

When a hurricane comes to the Florida Panhandle, our island gets hit harder than Pensacola. The waves hit us full strength.

Our tiny strip of sand actually moves around under the pounding of the huge hurricane waves and storm surge. It doesn't move a lot, but the sand dunes break down and the island slowly tries to move closer to shore.

During a hurricane, we also have to think about how we might get off the island. Once a hurricane hits, it's always tough to move; the wind, rain and tornadoes make it very dangerous. It's even worse here, however, for two reasons:

  • The whole island may be under water. The winds of a hurricane push the sea waters right over the top of us. If we are hit directly, the sea could rise 10-17 feet above it's normal level.

  • Our island is connected to the rest of Florida by a causeway, a bridge that runs across the Intracoastal Waterway. In a hurricane, nothing can move across the bridge. The winds are too strong.

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