Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Water levels at high tide along the San Mateo County coast are expected to be a few inches to a foot higher than usual through the weekend, due to king tides.

“King tides” are especially high tides that happen when the sun and moon’s gravitational pulls are aligned. They represent the very highest tides that occur at a given place, according to the California King Tides Project.

King tides this winter will also take place Nov. 26, Dec. 22, 23 and 24, and Jan. 21 and 22.

While the Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services urges caution, the California King Tides Project is also encouraging coastal locals to photograph the peak tides as an act of citizen-driven data collection. Submitted photos will be used to document and catalog local flood risks.

The project also hosts informational events and guided walks to see the king tides.

Go to the project website for more information. Go to the Saltwater Tides website to find out when the high tide is expected near you.

Join the Conversation

4 Comments

  1. And yet we continue to fill in the bay, and build close to it, and wonder why there is any flooding. Might we take a lesson from Amsterdam and other cities dealing with tidal issues, flood plains, and less than sea level building?

  2. We do build too close, and one can argue we are provoking dear Mother with continued dependence on fossil fuel leading to sea rise, but I’m not sure the following is still accurate:

    “And yet we continue to fill in the bay”

    What’s that last major bay fill project? I thought the last major attempt was SFO in 1998-ish.

  4. What’s the status of the humongous Cargill saltflats development proposal? Redwood City was gung ho about that idiotic plan, seeing only tax dollars in their future. Last I heard others in the region who were alarmed by its environmentally destructive potential were going to have to rely on regional agencies to put the brakes on it.

    Is the proposal still alive? If so, that’s sterling example of what Rory was talking about. Even if Cargill is walking away from it now (which I don’t think is the case), it’s still an example of how the elected officials and paid staff of RWC are willing to approve such a stupid project.

Leave a comment