CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Part of living near the water in Southwest Florida is watching our daily tides go up and down. With the super moon next week, King Tides will arrive in South Florida. That means our normal high tides could be even higher.
A king tide occurs when the moon, earth, and sun become aligned while a moon is closest to earth in its orbit. This combines the forces of lunar and solar gravity on our tides.
"When the Moon is coming closer to the Earth in its orbit,” said Dr. Felix Jose, a professor of marine science at Florida Gulf Coast University. “The gravitational pull is felt more in the ocean.”
Dr. Jose says those effects are more pronounced in Miami, but still seen here in southwest Florida.
“For example, we have a waterfront facility, Vestor Field Station in Bonita Springs, during the King Tide water comes almost to ground level, the parking lot level,” said Dr. Jose.
With the coming super moon on Monday, tides are forecast to be 6 to 8 inches higher than the normal high tide water marker in Downtown Fort Myers. And if you add an onshore wind those high tides could be even higher.
“That will help the water elevate to an even higher level and maintain that level,” said Dr. Jose. “So, the elevated water level will stay elevated for a prolonged period of time.”
That also means if a tropical system comes our way around the next several full and new moon cycles, surge storm could be even higher due to the king tides.
Dr. Jose also says to note the level of the King Tides, with sea level rise those will likely be our new normal high tide mark.
“King Tide shows how vulnerable we are due to climate change and the sea level rise. King Tides will be kind of the future tide in 20,30 years.
Next several King Tide dates:
- August 19-23 (Full Moon)
- September 18-21 (Full Moon)
- October 1-5 (New Moon)
- October 16-20 (Full Moon)
- October 30 - November 4 (New Moon)
- November 13-18 (Full Moon)
- November 29-30 (New Moon)
