King Tides Set Records on Both Coasts, Flooding Streets from Miami to San Diego

Residents of Huntington Beach paddled surfboards down flooded streets. Fort Lauderdale fire crews pulled people from inundated homes. In Miami, a tide gauge recorded its third-highest water level in three decades — surpassed only by hurricanes. This week's king tides, peaking around the October 25 full moon, have set water-level records on both U.S. coasts and sent seawater into homes, businesses, and major roadways from San Diego to the Carolinas.

In California, the tide gauge at San Pedro in Los Angeles recorded a preliminary reading of 8.19 feet on Tuesday, October 27, according to Orbis Weather — surpassing the previous record of 7.93 feet, which dated to January 2005. La Jolla's gauge hit a preliminary 7.98 feet, topping its prior record from November 2015. Santa Barbara also recorded a new high. These records fell on calm, sunny days, without any storm.

In Florida, Lake Worth Pier and South Port Everglades recorded their highest tides ever, according to Yahoo News. South Port Everglades saw flooding reach 2.25 feet above normally dry ground on Monday — beating a record set by Hurricane Nicole in 2022, according to Orbis Weather. Virginia Key, a barrier island in Miami, recorded its highest king tide and third-highest water level since records began three decades ago.

The only times we've seen higher was during hurricanes. It's historical from a king tide perspective.— Chris Fisher, National Weather Service meteorologist, Miami

The flooding was not the result of a single cause. A combination of strong high pressure to the north and low pressure over the Caribbean sent larger swells into Florida along the East Coast, while a nor'easter drove water onto Southeast shores. In St. Augustine, water ran about 2 feet above forecast on Monday after what the city's chief resiliency officer described as a nor'easter that coincided with the king tides, according to Orbis Weather. In California, the culprits were different but equally potent: an ongoing El Niño has warmed the ocean, expanding its volume, while a Kelvin wave — a broad ocean disturbance that raises coastal water levels over an extended period — has pushed sea levels at least 12 inches above normal along much of the California coast, according to Yahoo News.

The first punch is decades of sea level rise, which has waters close to the brim in many coastal communities.— NOAA

According to Orbis Weather's citation of the Los Angeles Times, scientists have found that record-warm ocean temperatures are pushing sea levels 1.25 to 1.8 feet higher than the moon and sun alone would generate. The National Weather Service in San Diego reported that observed high tides were running 1.5 to 1.7 feet above astronomical tide predictions.

The human impact was immediate and widespread. In Newport Beach, officials declared a local state of emergency and distributed roughly 25,000 sandbags, according to Orbis Weather. Pacific Coast Highway between Huntington Beach and Seal Beach was shut down entirely by Caltrans on Tuesday morning. A sand berm in San Diego's Mission Beach gave way Monday, allowing water to reach homes. Floodwaters on San Francisco's Embarcadero south of the Ferry Building blocked the way to Pier 14. In Marin County, a driver was stranded and towed to safety after Shoreline Highway flooded.

Florida's problems were equally severe. Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale was closed Wednesday for the second day in a row. According to CBS Miami, the city is unable to pump out tidal flooding because the pumps have no outlet when the tide is high. Nancy Gassman, Fort Lauderdale's chief resilience officer, told Yahoo News that water levels climbed roughly 6 inches beyond what previous king tides had produced, inundating areas of the city that had never flooded before. Residents compared the flooding to Hurricane Wilma in 2005. On Monday morning, between 4 and 6 inches of water spread across a lane of Collins Avenue in Miami Beach.

It's been a rough beach week. We've had a high risk of rip currents and some high surf out there. The beach conditions are going to continue to be rough through the weekend. It's been a good week to stay out of the water and stay away from the beaches.— Chris Fisher, National Weather Service meteorologist, Miami

Street flooding also hit Charleston and Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, with downtown Charleston streets including Broad Street and Fishburne Street closing for three consecutive mornings. On Tuesday morning, Charleston Harbor's preliminary reading of 7.83 feet above the low-water datum put it within the National Weather Service's moderate flood range, according to Orbis Weather. Dangerous rip currents extended as far north as the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

The year's highest predicted tides are known as king tides. NOAA describes them as a non-scientific term for what it formally calls perigean spring tides — occurring when the moon is new or full and closest to Earth. These tidal peaks can occur multiple times annually and may persist for several days. As sea levels continue to rise, king-tide flooding has grown more common: NOAA's 2024–25 outlook found a median increase of 5 flood days per year since 2000, a rise of nearly 200%, and projected that the national average could reach 45 to 85 flood days per year by 2050, according to Orbis Weather.

AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson, as cited by Yahoo News, said the flooding along the southeastern Atlantic coast was expected to taper off heading into the weekend, as the most extreme astronomical high tides pass and onshore winds diminish, though pockets of minor coastal flooding could persist into the following week. California's coastal flood advisories were set to run through Saturday for the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Monterey Bay shorelines. No injuries had been reported as of Tuesday afternoon, according to Orbis Weather.

Why it matters — This week's flooding shows that king tides — once a manageable nuisance — are now capable of hurricane-level water heights in some locations, driven by rising seas and El Niño, with NOAA projecting such events will become far more frequent by 2050.

Reported by abcnews.com, usatoday.com, yahoo.com, orbisweather.com