There was is another king tide on Monday January 21st Martin Luther King Day. We have a 7.1ft high tide at 10:53am (GG Bridge gauge) / apprx. 10:33am at Ocean Beach. This will be our largest high tide of the year.
King Tides are significant because they give us a glimpse into the future of sea level rise and what will our shoreline boundaries may look like.
How does this work? Currently, the average large high tide (what NOAA calls the mean higher high tide) is 5.84 ft. for the Golden Gate / SF Bay entrance tide gauge.
Monday’s 7.1ft king tide will therefore be 1.26ft or about 15” above our average large high tide. By 2050, the state of California projects there to be 16” of sea level rise. So Monday’s king tide will be close to the predicted new sea level rise average large high tide for 2050.
You can help us spread awareness of the impact of sea level rise on our beaches. Just take some photos of your favorite stretch of shoreline around 10:30am (again the tides arrive :20 mins earler on the beach compared to the Golden Gate). Then, send the pics in to the Ca King Tides Project and share them with your friends on social media. Please be sure to copy a link to our sea level rise planning petition!
Ca King Tides Project website: https://www.coastal.ca.gov/kingtides/