Long Island beachgoers were stunned as high winds pushed the water away from the coast, revealing hundreds of feet of exposed seabed in some areas.
The extreme low tides left vast stretches of the shoreline uncovered, exposing sandbars, shells, and marine life typically hidden beneath the waves.
Experts say the phenomenon, caused by sustained winds blowing down from Canada at tropical force, is temporary but striking, leaving both north and south shore beaches barren as water levels receded far beyond their usual reach.
“Basically, just about everybody had tropical force winds pretty much for 24 hours on Monday,” noted Scott Mandia, professor of Physical Sciences at Suffolk Community College. “We've been in a pattern with a big high-pressure system to our north and a low-pressure system to the east, and it's just been driving the Canadian air toward us.”
Over at Webbies Beach in Center Moriches, dry land stretched down from the high tide mark nearly 300 feet.
At Terrell River, huge mud flats were exposed in areas that are usually covered with water. The cold weather froze the hard-packed mud, giving the terrain an otherworldly appearance. Buoys usually floating at the surface were lying on the bottom, and oyster cages were left high and dry.
The highest wind on Long Island was clocked at 62 miles per hour at Kennedy Airport, while Islip MacArthur saw 55, according to the National Weather Service.
In Suffolk, Montauk topped out at 58. Winds are considered tropical force at anywhere between 39-73 MPH, Mandia pointed out.
The professor was surprised the tides were so low, considering the moon was in a waning gibbous phase, and the new moon is not due until the 27th. Both new and full moons cause greater-than-normal tides, which switch from low to high four times a day.