King tides are set to roll into Metro Vancouver beaches this month

Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive

Are you looking forward to storm season in Metro Vancouver?

You will want to keep your eyes peeled on the forecast, as the promise of some wild ocean activity is possible with an impeding high tide this week.

Another king tide is expected to roll into Vancouver’s coastline, bringing high water levels, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)

King Tide at Jericho Beach/Flickr/sherwood411

They say that it won’t be the highest tide of the season, but it could still lead to some flooding. It will also serve as a preview of some upcoming king tides expected to roll in the next few months.

ECCC says a king tide is created when the sun and moon align and begin tugging from the same direction, and the Earth and moon are positioned at the closest points in their orbits, pulling the ocean towards and creating huge waves.

Those, combined with winds or a storm surge, have created near catastrophic combinations for the Vancouver seawall in recent years, most notably in 2021 and 2022, when Jericho Pier was heavily damaged, and in 2022, when the Kitsilano Pool was damaged.

ECCC meteorologist Amrel Castellan says the waves that will start rolling in as early as tomorrow are a few centimetres short of being classified as a “king tide.”

“For Vancouver for the rest of December, today and tomorrow, the highest astronomical tides (HAT) are 4.9 meters, and the HAT rate was 5.1. So that’s just 20 centimetres shy of, you know, the typical highest type you can get,” says Castellan.

“For December, the rest of the month is relatively high, but it’s not in that 4.9 plus range.”

Minor coastal flooding is possible along low-lying shorelines adjacent to the Strait of Georgia near high tide on Monday and Tuesday late in the morning. Potential impacts include seawater across low-lying roadways and trails. pic.twitter.com/dxXBW1iVY1

— ECCC Weather British Columbia (@ECCCWeatherBC) December 17, 2023

Adding that the next time we could see high tides to that level, or even higher, is predicted to be January 12 to 17. We could see that again in February between the 11 and Valentine’s Day.

“They are about a month apart because of the lunar cycle,” the meteorologist explained.

But while the king tides might have left a major cleanup in its wake in previous years, it’s not clear yet how bad it will be this time around.

King tide submerges part of False Creek seawall in Yaletown

The 2018 King tide in Yaletown was quite the sight. Twitter/VPD Marine Unit

“That’s not really a situation we’re dealing with too much in the way of problematic flooding of any kind.”

“It’s not to say that they’re the worst-case scenario, but if everything else was conspiring against a flooding event because you had an extremely low tide and very strong winds.”

You can keep up with the weather by clicking here.

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