King tides are coming to SLO County. Here’s how you can see them
Poets lie: The moon is not perfect.
Its orbit around the Earth is not a precise circle, so at times it is closer and exerts stronger gravitational pull on the ocean.
When the moon’s close orbit — or perigee — also aligns with the sun, tides can vary from highest highs to lowest lows in the same day.
These are commonly called king tides, and they’re coming back to the Central Coast.
King tides offer a way to see where land will be inundated with higher sea levels. NOAA has recorded sea levels rising at an accelerating rate, recently about 1/8 inch higher per year or 2.6 inches higher than 1993 average.
In that respect, king tides are a harbinger of the future, according to Morro Bay State Park interpreter Rouvaishyana, and could offer a glimpse what normal high tides a few decades from now will look like.
“It’s very possible that the king tides that happen once or twice a year will predict what we’re going to be seeing in the future,” Rouvaishyana said.
This year, the tides were highest on Jan. 11, when the high tide in Morro Bay was 5.4 feet at 10:14 a.m. The low tide was also extreme, at -0.7 at 6:04 p.m.
Sunday’s high tide will be almost as dramatic, 5.4 feet at 11 a.m., before retreating to -0.6 feet at 6:45 p.m.
If you miss the January king tide, similar tide heights of 6.5 feet will occur Sunday and Monday. An even larger king tide will arrive Dec 13-15, peaking at 6.9 feet in Morro Bay.
This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 2:00 PM.
