Monday's high tide hits all-time recordHe knew the tide was high when it swamped neighborhoods and businesses around Puget Sound Monday, but one coastal engineer had no idea he was witnessing history.
Engineer David Michalson of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided to check out the statistics on the high tide that was whipped up by wind and other conditions until it topped bulkheads around the area and almost topped the Ballard Locks.
When he saw the tide hit a level of 14.5 feet, he decided to compare to the historical data. What he found was a new record.
We double checked the numbers by contacting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) officials tide center. They confirmed it. Michalson was right - Monday’s tide broke the 1983 record by .2 feet and is the highest since they started keeping records 113 years ago.
Scientists with both NOAA and The Corps say with ocean levels in Seattle going up by about eight inches every 100 years, we can expect more records and more severe storms more often.
First: From the Seattle Times:
Monday's Seattle high tide, 14.51 feet, topped the previous record, 14.49 feet, set in January 1983, Rufo-Hill said.
The way I learned arithmatic, 14.51-14.49=0.02, so the high tied exceeded the previous record set 29 years ago by 0.02 feet. That is less than one inch. In fact, that is 1/4 inch. How can they even measure a
TIDE with that level of precision? Then from apparently erroneous calculation they project a sea level rise of "8 inches every 100 years"? Be still my beating heart. Pardon me for being skeptical.
As to the guy that is shocked to be pumping water out due to high tide when the high tide is essentially the same as the record set 30 years ago, I can only say, you can't cure stupid. I do not understand these people that do not make sure they have a couple of feet at least of freeboard above the known high tides and waves.