Hurricane Idalia is crawling towards the Florida Gulf Coast, forcing mass evacuations in low-lying areas that are expected to be swamped once the Category 3 storm makes landfall on Wednesday morning (local time). It is expected to intensify into a Category 4 storm. What’s concerning is that the rare super blue moon, that’s coinciding with the hurricane’s landfall, can play a role in exacerbating flooding from the storm. The moon will be closest to Earth on Wednesday, for the second time this month.

While a supermoon can make for a spectacular backdrop in photos of landmarks around the world, its intensified gravitational pull also makes tides higher. And its impact will be visible not only in Florida but in Georgia and South Carolina too, according to Sky News.

Known as a king tide, these higher tides are caused by the extra gravitational pull that occurs when the sun and moon align with Earth.

“I would say the timing is pretty bad for this one,” Brian Haines, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service office in Charleston, South Carolina, is quoted as saying by the outlet.

Idalia is expected to hit Florida’s coast at 6am (local time) on Wednesday.

New York Post said that the hurricane is still over 100 miles off the coast, but the rising tides have washed onto highways and overfilled canals.

Some users on X (formerly Twitter) have posted videos of the high-speed winds ripping through palm trees and kicking up miniature sand storms. NDTV cannot verify the authenticity of these viral clips.

At 11 pm on Tuesday, Idalia was carrying maximum sustained winds of 110 mph (177 kmph) and moving north at 18 mph (29 kmph), the National Hurricane Centre said.

Representational file image.
| Photo Credit: Rajeev Bhatt

Stargazers are in for a double treat this week: a rare blue supermoon with Saturn peeking from behind.

The cosmic curtain rises Wednesday night with the second full moon of the month, the reason it’s considered blue. It’s dubbed a supermoon because it’s closer to Earth than usual, appearing especially big and bright.

This will be the closest full moon of the year, just 222,043 miles (357,344 kilometers) or so away. That’s more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) closer than the Aug. 1 supermoon.

As a bonus, Saturn will be visible as a bright point 5 degrees to the upper right of the moon at sunset in the east-southeastern sky, according to NASA. The ringed planet will appear to circle clockwise around the moon as the night wears on.

If you missed the month’s first spectacle, better catch this one. There won’t be another blue supermoon until 2037, according to Italian astronomer Gianluca Masi, founder of the Virtual Telescope Project.

Clouds spoiled Masi’s attempt to livestream the supermoon rising earlier this month. He’s hoping for clearer skies this time so he can capture the blue supermoon shining above St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

Weather permitting, observers don’t need binoculars or telescopes — “just their own eyes.” said Masi.

“I’m always excited to admire the beauty of the night sky,” he said, especially when it features a blue supermoon.

The first supermoon of 2023 was in July. The fourth and last will be in September.