Some of the highest tides of the year, known as king tides, will hit Long Beach’s shores on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 11 and 12.
With morning tides nearing seven feet on those days, no significant flooding is expected so far, but city crews still will be shoring up sand berms for extra protection, city Marine Safety Chief Gonzalo Medina said.
“The only reason we would have an issue here in Long Beach is if we had swell or additional weather to go along with the king tide,” he said.
Like regular tides, king tides are caused by the gravitational pull on the earth, mostly from the moon but also the sun.
“Around the new year we’re a little bit closer to the sun, so there’s a slightly stronger pull,” which makes for higher tides, said Annie Kohut Frankel, who oversees the state Coastal Commission’s California King Tides Project.
Since 2010, the project has invited residents across the state to take photos of the winter king tides in their area to help record how the coast is changing and how it will look in the future as sea levels rise, Frankel said.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) website, the morning tides on Jan. 11 (peaking at 8:19 a.m.) and Jan. 12 (highest at 9:04 a.m.) are predicted at just over seven feet on Terminal Island, and a little over six and a half feet in Long Beach’s inner harbor.
Frankel said anyone who wants to help document the king tides can take photos and upload them through the California King Tides Project website. And just up the coast, the Roundhouse Aquarium is holding a king tides watch event at the Manhattan Beach Pier on Jan. 12. (Find information and RSVP here.)
Also, Frankel said, the extreme high tides will be followed by extreme low tides, so it’s a good time to check out the sea life in local tidepools.
One of the reasons for the king tides photo project is to “help us understand what life is going to be like in the next few decades,” when what are now extreme high tides could be a daily occurrence, Frankel said.
That future prospect is what worries Tim Rue, who has owned a home on the Long Beach Peninsula since 1998. He said the city does a good job building berms when needed, and so far his neighborhood has luckily not seen the “trifecta” of extreme high tides, storm surge and high winds that can cause major flooding.
Rue said he’s not concerned about the upcoming king tides, but at some point, the city will need to do more than pile up some sand.
“It’s a long-term problem, and with climate change and rising seawater, they do need to get a more permanent solution.”
The city has information here about flooding and how residents in vulnerable areas can protect their homes.