SAN FRANCISCO—The National Weather Service issued a Coastal Flood Advisory for the areas of the San Francisco Peninsula Coast, San Francisco, Coastal North Bay including Point Reyes National Seashore, North Bay Interior Valleys, Southern Monterey Bay and Big Sur Coast, and Northern Monterey Bay.
The advisory indicated that minor coastal flooding is expected starting from early Monday morning on January 11 until 3 p.m.
“High astronomical tides will coincide with larger than normal waves to produce minor coastal flooding. The peak of the high tides is expected on Monday morning when the intrusion of seawater into low lying areas is most likely,” stated the National Weather Service.
King Tides are expected which will begin Monday morning and last until later in the afternoon.
King Tides, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), are unusually high tides that are also “long-period waves that roll around the planet as the ocean is ‘pulled’ back and forth by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun as these bodies interact with the Earth in their monthly and yearly orbits.”
The NOAA said that King Tides typically appear when the Moon is new or full and when the Moon is “at its perigee,” which means the Moon is the closest to the Earth.
The California King Tides Project says they can determine what the future sea levels will be by measuring the King Tides.
“King Tides themselves are not caused by sea-level rise but allow us to experience what higher sea level will be like. King Tides are the highest high tides of the year, about a foot or two higher than average tides, which corresponds to the one-to-two-foot rise in sea level expected during the next few decades. Understanding what a King Tide looks like today will help us plan for sea-level rise in the future and motivate us to stop burning fossil fuels,” said The California King Tides Project.
The advisory indicated that they recommend for beachgoers to not “drive around barricades or through the water of unknown depth. Take the necessary actions to protect flood-prone property.”
