Extreme low tide follows Irene's Cape Region departure

By Sunday morning following Irene's departure from Delaware's Cape Region, strong gusty winds began cranking out of the west.  Once the 8:30 a.m. high tide began leaving Delaware Bay, those west winds, combined with the gravitational pull of a new moon in perigee, drove tides out of the bay, creeks and marshes.  Even along the oceanfront in Rehoboth Beach, the low tide reveal was much greater than people could ever remember.

In the canal at Lewes, docked boats sat high and dry in mud, and on the bayfront beaches, sandbars that haven't been seen in decades beckoned to beach combers looking for treasure on the exposed bay bottom.  At dead low tide Sunday afternoon, the water was out at least 50 yards beyond where it usually is.

As long as hurricanes, earthquakes and reported tornadoes were getting in on the extreme natural occurrences of the week, the tides weren't going to miss the chance to get a little notice of their own.