The last king tides of winter will roll in on January 2-4 in conjunction with a full moon on Saturday, the 3rd. Consult the interactive tide chart in the Floating Times for specific times and water levels.
These extreme tides offer planners a preview of how climate change may reshape California’s shorelines in the decades ahead, demonstrating what daily tides may look like in 2050, when ocean levels in California are projected to rise up to 1.2 feet, and up to 6.6 feet by 2100.
The King Tides Project requests photos taken during these high-water events to create a record of changes to our shoreline and to understand how sea level rise will impact California in the future.
You can contribute by uploading photos either via a web browser or with the free Survey123 app. Be sure to have your phone’s location services ON if you’re using it to take your king tide photos. If you use a digital camera, make a note of exactly where you are so you can mark your photo location on the map when you upload it via the web.
Try to take your photos within a half hour of peak high tide, and above all else, make sure you’re safe when you do it.
Sea level is rising because land-based glaciers and ice sheets are melting into the ocean, and because water takes up more space when it warms. The amount of sea level rise we will ultimately experience depends on how quickly we stop burning fossil fuels which produce carbon dioxide that acts like a blanket in our atmosphere, trapping in heat that would otherwise escape. When we burn fossil fuels, we’re adding more carbon dioxide, thickening the blanket and heating the earth, air, and ocean.