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Tides & Taps: How to Read a Tide Prediction in King Tide Season
King tide season is here on Florida's East Coast. The South Florida Water Management District's 2026 King Tide Season Forecast lists the remaining East Coast elevated-tide periods: Sept. 8–15, Sept. 24–Oct. 15, Oct. 22–Nov. 12, Nov. 22–29 and Dec. 22–27. In those windows, the District says, high tides may approach or exceed one or more National Weather Service flood thresholds in parts of the region.
Our taproom is just off I-95 in Delray Beach, but a lot of our weekends start at the beach. So before the next window opens, here is how we read a tide prediction, and how to plan a beach walk, a surf-fishing trip or a boat-ramp morning around one.
What a king tide actually is
"King tide" is not a scientific term. NOAA's National Ocean Service calls it a popular name for exceptionally high tides, and says higher-than-normal tides typically occur during a new or full moon and when the Moon is at perigee, or during specific seasons.
Season matters here. The City of West Palm Beach explains that Florida's king tides generally arrive in the fall, when seasonal factors like currents and temperature bring sea levels to their highest for the year. The Moon's close approach adds surprisingly little: NOAA says a perigean spring tide is, in most cases, only a couple of inches above a normal spring tide.
The practical problem is high tide flooding, which NOAA says is sometimes called sunny day or nuisance flooding: water in low streets even on sunny days.
How to read a tide prediction
Open NOAA Tides & Currents tide predictions, pick a station, and keep three things in mind.
Use the station where you'll be. High tide doesn't arrive everywhere at once. For Sunday, Sept. 27, NOAA predicts high tide at 8:59 AM at its Lake Worth Pier (ocean) station, but not until 11:07 AM at the station NOAA names Delray Beach, ICWW.
Zero is an average low, not the bottom. Heights are measured from MLLW, mean lower low water. NOAA's datum guide defines it as the average of the lower low water height of each tidal day and names it the reference datum for predictions. A 3.6-foot high tide is 3.6 feet above that average low.
A prediction is not a weather forecast. NOAA's Monthly High Tide Flooding Outlook notes that its model does not account for real-time weather, and NOAA lists changes in prevailing winds and shifts in ocean currents among the causes of high tide flooding. The City of West Palm Beach adds that rainfall and storms influence when the highest tide arrives.
Daytime high tides, Sept. 26–30, 2026 (NOAA predictions, feet above MLLW, local EDT)
| Date | Lake Worth Pier (ocean) | Delray Beach, ICWW |
|---|---|---|
| Sat, Sept. 26 | 8:16 AM · 3.46 ft | 10:24 AM · 3.28 ft |
| Sun, Sept. 27 | 8:59 AM · 3.60 ft | 11:07 AM · 3.38 ft |
| Mon, Sept. 28 | 9:43 AM · 3.68 ft | 11:51 AM · 3.42 ft |
| Tue, Sept. 29 | 10:31 AM · 3.70 ft | 12:37 PM · 3.39 ft |
| Wed, Sept. 30 | 11:22 AM · 3.65 ft | 1:26 PM · 3.30 ft |
Tuesday's 3.70 feet is the highest high NOAA predicts at Lake Worth Pier all September. These highs sit inside the Sept. 24–Oct. 15 window, which takes in the Sept. 26 full moon listed by the U.S. Naval Observatory. SFWMD lists Oct. 27 as the East Coast's annual maximum predicted peak; NOAA's prediction for Lake Worth Pier that morning is 3.98 feet at 9:23 AM, just after the October full moon.
Plan the outing around the high
Beach walks and surf fishing. From Sept. 26 to 30, the ocean-station highs fall between 8:16 and 11:22 in the morning. Plan the walk or the cast around your station's high; the City of West Palm Beach says king tides can be observed 1.5 to 2 hours before and after peak times. The dark line of seaweed on the sand is the wrack line: a UF/IFAS Extension dune guide describes wrack as beach litter that accumulates at the high tide line, food for shorebirds and ghost crabs that should not be removed. Before you swim, the National Weather Service's rip current guidance says to check the local beach forecast, talk to the lifeguard, and swim only at a beach with lifeguards, noting that rip currents often form on calm, sunny days. Its Surf Zone Forecast for coastal Palm Beach County covers rip current risk, surf height and thunderstorm potential.
Thunder. NWS lightning safety guidance is blunt: there is no safe place outside when thunderstorms are in the area, and if you hear thunder you are likely within striking distance. When thunder roars, go indoors.
Boat ramps. Pull up the station nearest the ramp; in the table, the Delray Beach, ICWW station runs about two hours behind the ocean pier. The City of West Palm Beach warns boaters that king tides can cause lower clearance than normal under fixed bridges.
Driving and parking. Near low streets during a window, the city's advice is not to drive through floodwater, which may be deeper than it appears, and not to park in low-lying areas.
One thing to do this month
Before Sept. 24, open NOAA's predictions for the station where you'll be, whether that's a beach, a pier or a ramp, and write down the high tide times for Saturday, Sept. 26 through Wednesday, Sept. 30. Circle the one that fits your plans. The week of the outing, check SFWMD's weekly Tidal Outlook, which it shares through the season, and read the Surf Zone Forecast that morning. Station, time, height, weather: that's the whole habit.
After the high tide
Late-September morning highs leave the afternoon wide open. The taproom is at 1701 W. Atlantic Ave in Delray Beach, the first building off the I-95 Atlantic Ave exit, open Mon 1–7 · Tue–Thu 12–10 · Fri–Sat 12–11 · Sun 12–8. Check the events calendar before you head over, and for a calm-water weekend, our Tides & Taps look at Florida's Coral Reef off Palm Beach County is a good next read.
Please drink responsibly.