http://www.mercurynews.com/drought/ci_2937429...King tides, the highest of high tides that sometimes reach many feet higher than normal sea level, bring an additional element to the mix. The next set of king tides are predicted to hit next week, according to the California King Tides Project.
We’re at Point Isabel to look at the last of the winter king tides, the proverbially reliable highest-of-high tides that, locally, tend to occur around federal holidays — Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Martin Luther King Day.
From afar, San Francisco looks lofty compared to the sea that surrounds it on three sides. But take a walk down the Embarcadero on the right day, and you can find yourself up to your ankles in brackish Bay water. Scientists have a word for these super high tides, but it’s not nearly as catchy as what the activists call them: king tides. King tides -- a type of perigean spring tide (there’s your science jargon) -- occur when extra-high tides line up with some other meteorological anomalies.
