by Barley Lewis-McCabe and Ursula Newman
Low lying communities of Humboldt Bay faced floods as king tides hit record highs on Jan. 2 and 3, which caused significant damages to the King Salmon and Fields Landing areas. The term king tide is used to describe exceptionally large tides that are influenced by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun.
On Saturday, Jan. 3, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) tide gauge, housed in Humboldt Bay at the north spit measured a high of 10.37 feet, the highest ever recorded since its establishment in 1977. In the days following the record high tide, The Humboldt County Office of Emergency Services asked residents to avoid the King Salmon area due to the extreme flooding, and encouraged those in need of shelter to contact the American Red Cross.
Amanda Admire, lecturer in the geology and oceanography departments, discussed how king tides aren’t always breaking news.
“When there’s damage and economic impact, that’s really when people start to take notice,” Admire said. “It’s different if we saw a really high storm surge and the water rushed up and put some debris on the roadway. That’s one thing. But that’s not as [notable as], ‘oh my gosh, there’s someone who has damage in their home.’”
Our area has mixed semi diurnal tides, meaning there are two high tides and two low tides a day. NOAA is able to track and predict tides with high accuracy, and is used to know when to expect impressively high tides. A king tide is the highest of the especially high tides and, as always, tides are controlled by the rotation of the earth and moon.
A king tide happens when the sun and the moon are in alignment.
“Their gravitational pulls are working together to pull more on the hydrosphere,” Admire said. “Versus if the moon were perpendicular in location to the sun, the moon is going to pull and make it more spherical, because they’re not lined up with each other.”
When living in or near a coastal zone there are a lot of factors that come into play. Admire emphasized the importance of education around different ocean conditions and noted that the water itself has incredible power.
“Becoming more aware of our surroundings and the potential hazards in those zones is really valuable to residents,” Admire said. “As well as the visiting populations to those areas, to help know what to do and to be more prepared.”
As of now, there has been no emergency declaration for the King Salmon and Fields Landing areas.
“Unfortunately, we sometimes are in the path of that water,” Admire said. “And I was really sad to see that there was so much damage that happened to the people of King Salmon, and I hope that they are able to get some resources to help come out of that.”
Ursula Newman is a journalism major, Lumberjack science editor and Humboldt local. You can find her all over the county doing all kinds of things, and talking to all sorts of people. Contact her at uon1@humboldt.edu.
Barley is an untraditional reporter, photographer and opinion editor who focuses on stories about social changes that have a real human impact. If you’d like to reach him for whatever reason email bl258@humboldt.edu.
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