WHATCOM — A tide of at least 10.1 feet at Cherry Point, the county’s official tide station, is termed a King Tide locally.
The term is often used to describe exceptionally high tides.
Tides are long-period waves that roll around the planet as the ocean is “pulled” back and forth by the gravitational force of both the moon and the sun as these bodies interact with the Earth in their monthly and yearly orbits. Higher than normal tides typically occur during a new or full moon and when the moon is at its perigee, or during specific seasons around the country.
In Whatcom County, particular attention is paid to King Tides that occur in the late fall/early winter since many of these times these coincide with, and can be aggravated by, seasonal wind storms. This has resulted in significant impacts on coastal communities, as when Birch Bay and Blaine were hit in December 2018 with over $5 million in damage from a King Tide and wind storm.
Over the next month or so, Whatcom County will have these King Tides:
Date Height Time
Dec. 3010.1 0704
Dec. 3110.2 0737
Jan. 110.3 0813
Jan. 210.3 0846
Jan. 310.2 0919
Jan. 410.1 0951
Jan. 510.1 1021
Jan. 1210.4 0605
Jan. 1310.6 0645
Jan. 1410.6 0722
Jan. 1510.5 0758
Jan. 1610.2 0831
Jan. 2910.1 0706
Jan. 3010.1 0733
Jan. 3110.1 0800
Feb. 110.1 0827
For those who are tide watchers, these are pretty impressive tides, states the Whatcom County Emergency Management websit. What happened in the 2018 storm to make them much worse was that the tides were pushed nearly two feet higher by storm pressure (called storm surge) and then the west wind added another 3-4 feet of waves.
