Beach Watch Reports from Bill Sargent

Weather Forecast

Daily Beach Watch Reports
Filed by Bill Sargent

May 25: Daily beach watch reports have moved to the forum.

May 23
For the last 5 days the tip of the beach has been holding steady about 60 feet from the southernmost pile of debris. (Ignore my May 19th report when I got distracted and used the wrong day's tide chart!) We can now consider this a legitimate erosional pause. We can expect the beach to appear to grow slightly during the coming week of falling tides. If the winds and weather stay calm and from the west we can expect the beach to continue growing, though easterly winds and storms could reverse this process. Somebody is tonging some schoolies off the point as well.

May 22
14:34 tip 55 feet from debris pile. 110 feet from town hall camp to tip.

May 21
**The tip of North Beach has grown almost 60 feet.** At the peak of today's high tide the tip of the beach was 55 to 65 feet from the pile of debris, which is itself 55 feet from Town Hall Camp. This makes the tip has grown about 60 feet and is now about 155 feet from town hall camp. I will watch this carefully to see if this is the beginning of the seasonal growth period. West winds will enhance this process, east winds will decrease it.

May 20
Initial observation at low tide indicates some subtidal build-up of sand off the point. Not sure if Town Hall camp is being hit by overwashes, but the door seems to have been ajar for the past few days.

Good news!! 2:45 PM: As we pass the high tide mark it appears the last few days of westerly winds have built up the tip of North Beach by 90 feet! Will watch this closely to see if this marks the actual transition to a growing summer beach.

May 19
Interesting situation today. Cool blustery winds fortunately from the NW. Five foot plus tides for the next three days. Minimal erosion of the tip of the beach for almost a week, assume minimal erosion from the East as well. Paul Fulcher reports that the beach sand is starting to have the consistency of the summer beach. What happens during this week's high tides and the high tides of early June should help determine whether this is just another pause in the ongoing erosion or the beginning the summer buildup.

May 18
Moderate waves and wind. Point holding steady, minimal erosion from East. Minimal erosion from washovers expected during high tides May 21st and 22nd.

May 17
Moderate waves and winds. The tip of the beach is holding steady, we can expect continuing moderate erosion from the East.

May 16
As high tide approaches erosion appears to be minimal. Another low will track south of Chatham this weekend. But tides are lower and we can expect less erosion. Tides will build to about 5 feet on May 21st and 22nd then recede again. Next long period of high course tides will fall in early June. Hopefully we will see signs that seasonal beach building has started by then.

May 15
From Kelley's camp to tip appears to be holding steady. About .5 days at 30 feet, 1 day at 15 feet, 2 days at 7.5 feet, *4 days at minimal under 3.5 feet of erosion*. This appears to be one of the pauses that have occurred after major storms. The reason for these pauses may be the tons of sand that has washed into the throat of the inlet. Much of the sand will probably be reshuffled and wash onto the south side spit. Aerial photos should tell us more. Weather and lower tides may be in our favor. We hope to see a significant slowing, even growth as the season progresses. Only time will tell.

May 14
Erosion Note: Fortunately our recent storms have passed. Unfortunately we have to entertain the possibility that the inlet is no longer expanding but migrating. If you look at aerial photos and Thadd's recent survey you will see that the south side is growing northwest almost as fast as the north side is receding. In fact the inlet has moved almost a half mile north from directly opposite Minister's Point to where it now slightly overlaps the south end of Strong Island. This is something that inlets sometimes do. The disturbing thing about this scenario, is that it has probably happened before. When the Sparrowhawk went aground in Pleasant Bay in 1626, the inlet was described as being opposite Strong Island. In the 1799 DeBarr's chart a note says the Old Harbor inlet had been opposite Strong island thirty years before. Researchers have always assumed that this meant that the inlet originally broke opposite Strong Island. Now we have to entertain the disturbing realization that it probably broke through at the most hydrologically propitious spot opposite Minister's Point and migrated north to Strong Island before stabilizing. Today there is less sand and the sea level is 4 almost four feet higher than it was in 1626. This may mean that the inlet will migrate further and faster north.

BEACH CLOSURE: 9:05 AM. High waves and brisk winds continue to pound outer beach. Beach will be closed to traffic until Friday, but a weaker Easterly may be in the offing for next weekend. Looks like John Kelley's outhouse has washed away. Washovers and waves will continue to erode foreshore and dunes. Aerial photos will allow us to assess hydrological changes to the inlet.

May 13
7:35 approaching high tide: The outer beach is taking another beating this morning as high tide approaches. Waves 11-16 feet high, strong East winds shifting gradually North. This storm is tracking slightly faster and further south than expected and tides are below 5 feet, but long fetch waves more than make up for these positives. Town hall camp 0 days at 30 feet, *.5 days at 15 feet,* 1 day at 7 feet but overwash is already hitting camp and an overwash 100 feet north of the camp is threatening to sever the southern end of the beach. Hammatt area also getting pounded, with overwash areas approaching camps. Inner road pock marked with impassable puddles, impossible to drive on outer beach. North Beach Island saturated with water. Overwash undercutting Bloomer camp. Rob Crowell reports steady erosion of East side of the island. One heroic plover saved four eggs by remaining on her eggs throughout these two unseasonable storms. Also see Eldredge and Hebert reports.

May 12
6:45 AM High Tide. Nothing good to report today. High waves are pounding the entire beach. Several overwashes threaten to severe the southern tip. Town hall camp wet from overwash, 30 feet from tip *.5 days at 30 feet of erosion,* 1 day at 15 feet, 2 days at 7 feet. There is a large roll of presumably snow fencing just off the tip. Hammatt's camp is 2.5 days at 30 feet, 5 days at 15 feet and *10 days at 7 feet of erosion*. We can expect at least 15 feet of erosion through at least two more tidal cycles as these long fetch waves continue to pound the beach from the East and Northeast. High tides have gone below 5 feet. The beach is virtually undrivable. There is no forebeach left and large puddles impede inner routes. It will take several days for the beach to recover. See Thadd Eldredge and Kelly Hebert's reports for complete coverage.

May 11
Erosion alert: Today's storm caused 75 feet of erosion, almost as much as during the remnants of hurricane Noel. Unfortunately we can expect even more severe erosion Monday and Tuesday as another Easterly moves slowly offshore. This will cause 15 foot, long duration waves, lasting through several tidal cycles. Town hall camp *.5 days at severe erosion,* 1 day at 15 feet, and 2 days at & feet of erosion. Asterix ** denote most likely scenario within the erosion window.

May 10
Poor visibility this morning but Town Hall appears to have .5 days at 60 feet of erosion, 1.5 days at 30 feet of erosion, 3 days at 15 feet of erosion. Up to 75 feet of erosion last night!

May 9
Two unusual winterlike Easterlies are expected to arrive this afternoon and last through Saturday and Monday and last through Tuesday. They will be accompanied by 10-15 foot waves. Town Hall camp and new North Village may be affected by overwashing and severe erosion. Note: Make sure to check out Kelly Herbert's extraordinary photos of a right whale frolicking and eating within 75 feet of North Beach the new inlet!

May 8
Erosion Alert: This was just forwarded to me by meteorologist Bill Ryan. Weather models are predicting two highly unusual easterly blows. The first will transit Chatham Saturday with seas potentially running 9-12 feet high. This will be in the form of a typical winter storm with winds backing to the NW as the low passes just south of the Cape. The second storm will arrive on Tuesday and follow the same track. There is more uncertainty to this report because it is still 6 days out. The first storm will coincide with the new moon high tides.

Town Hall camp about 1.5 days at severe erosion, 3 days at moderate erosion and 6 days at average (7.5 feet) of erosion from overwash area. Tip still 120 feet from camp with less scarped profile. Expect up to 10 feet of erosion per day on Friday and Saturday when the low is expected to track south of Chatham.

May 6
Thadd's Christmas tree has gone! Town Hall camp 120 feet from tip, 42 feet from overwash. 1.5 days at severe erosion, 3 days at moderate erosion, 6 days at average erosion and 12 days at minimal erosion to overwash area. The second Christmas tree south of town hall appears to have been washed away presumably by overwash.

May 5
Christmas tree less than 7 feet from beach tip. Tree has 0 days left at severe erosion, 0 days at moderate erosion, 1 day at average erosion (6.9 feet) and 2 days at slight erosion. You will see a refinement in these forecasts. From now on I will use "average erosion" in forecasts. This will indicate the most likely area in the window of opportunity in which I expect waves to hit our referance point. The average may shift from severe to slight within the box depending on circumstances. Bill

May 4
Foggy today, but Christmas tree less than 30 feet from tip. Forecast 1 day of severe 30 foot erosion, 2 says of moderate 15 foot erosion, 4 days of slight, 7 foot erosion and 8 days of minimal, under 3.7 feet of erosion from washing away. Can anyone give me personal observations of the distance from town hall camp to the overwash area? Recent aerial photos show considerable shoaling of the Inlet's north channel. This will help the inlet become a shallow inlet with a "tortured channel". This is good news because it will help slow down the northern erosion of the spit. This coming week of high tides should give us a better indication of future rates of erosion.

May 3
Southernmost Christmas tree 1 day of 30 erosion, 2 days of 15 foot erosion, 4 days of 7.5 foot erosion, and 8 days of 3.7 foot erosion from being washed away. Town Hall camp about 1.5, 3, 6, and 12 days from overwash area.

May 2
Town Hall camp now 174 feet from old site, but only 42 feet from overwash area to the NE. No severe weather predicted but we will be having a solid week of over 5 foot tides starting on Sunday. We hope to get first hand reports over the weekend and will keep you posted.

May 1
Yesterday's observation about snow fencing seems to hold true for the apparent erosion pauses we saw in January, February and March. They were at least partially caused by snow fencing and pallettes embedded in the beach. The good part of this is that we can expect to see an apparent slowing of erosion as we enter the heavily strengthened Kelley and Thayer beach sites. The bad part is that there appears to be little change in the hydraulics of the system. The ocean will continue to spill into the deep channel behind the outer beach. Until this changes we can expect the beach to continue to erode to the north. We will see a slowing of erosion as the season progresses, but we may not see the beach starting to grow until well into the summer if at all.

April erosion reports

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