The National Weather Service forecast that the so-called King Tides, the highest astronomical tides of the year, will be seen in the hours just after dawn until at least Friday.
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The Manzanita Park and Ride area, above, is one of several areas in Marin expected to flood during high tides over the holidays. It happens when the sun and moon align, which pulls ocean water to opposite sides of the earth and creates extremely high and low tides.
According to the National Weather Service, temperatures are expected to dip into the mid-40s, with the roughest day for rip currents and highest level for tides will be Wednesday, when tides could reach over an estimated seven feet. Perihelion will occur in early January.
Also: 6.5 feet at 7:39 a.m. Dec. 21; 6.7 feet at 8:25 a.m. Dec. 22; 6.9 feet at 9:10 a.m. Dec. 23; 6.9 feet at 9:56 a.m. Dec. 24; 6.8 feet at 10:41 a.m. Dec. 25, and 6.6 feet at 11:24 a.m. Dec. 26. But that’s exactly what’s happening in the Bay Area this week, causing flooding and risky conditions for boaters and beachgoers from today through Thanksgiving.
At the beach, Huntington Beach lifeguards said they had no significant flooding problems.
Times of the high tides vary elsewhere according to distance from the Golden Gate, and occur about 50 minutes later in San Rafael, for example. “We’re more concerned about a combination of high tide and a winter storm with heavy winds”, Baker said.
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Coastal erosion due to wave action is another danger of king tides. Those could be on the horizon as a strong El Niño is expected to bring higher-than-average amounts of rain to Southern California. A second round of showers is expected late Wednesday into Thursday morning. The higher tides combined with storm surges caused by El Niño could threaten low-lying coastal areas with significant flooding, according to KPCC.
