San Diego’s tide gauge hit an all-time high of 8.52 feet as Huntington Beach declared an emergency

The tide gauge at San Diego’s Broadway Pier read 8.52 feet above mean lower low water at about 9 a.m. on Tuesday, October 27, an all-time high for the station. That topped the previous day’s record of 8.44 feet and ran more than a foot above the forecast. A day earlier, Huntington Beach had already proclaimed a local emergency as the same run of extreme tides washed over its harbor and highway.

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Seawater has been sitting on streets, in alleys and against seawalls from San Diego to Marin County since October 26. The flooding arrived on dry days, pushed by tides and a raised ocean surface rather than by rain.

Broadway Pier’s 8.52-foot reading against the old mark

The National Weather Service logged 2.60 meters, or 8.52 feet, on October 27, according to The Watchers’ account of the California readings, which calls it the highest measurement in the gauge’s history. The record the day before stood at 2.57 meters (8.44 feet), so the mark fell twice in roughly 24 hours. Times of San Diego, reporting from Mission Bay, placed the peak on the NOAA gauge at 9 a.m. and said it ran more than a foot above prediction. That gap between forecast and observation defined the week: the astronomical tide tables were already high, and the water beneath them stood higher still.

NWS San Diego tied the extra rise to thermal expansion of warm Pacific water during a strengthening El Niño. In its October 29 discussion, published through the office’s area forecast discussion feed, forecasters put sea level near San Diego about 0.43 meters, or 17 inches, above where it stood a year earlier, and observed tides that day still ran 1.3 to 1.6 feet over astronomical predictions. The California Coastal Commission pointed to El Niño and oceanic Kelvin waves, which can lift regional sea level for weeks at a stretch. Neither factor needs a storm to do its work, which is why the flooding showed up under clear skies.

Mission Bay took some of the earliest damage. Seawater broke through the city’s sand berm along Bayside Walk on Monday, October 26, and crews raised the berm the next day. Jackie Nipper, who founded Mission Bay Puppy Rescue there 30 years ago, said the berm had always been there but had never stood this high.

Elsewhere in Southern California the pattern repeated at a lower intensity. The coastal flood warning for Orange and San Diego counties expired at 1 p.m. PDT on October 29 and gave way to an advisory that stayed in effect until 2 p.m. on October 30. NWS Los Angeles/Oxnard ran advisories through the same hour for San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Los Angeles counties, expecting minor to moderate seawater flooding of parking lots, bike paths and harbor walkways, plus beach erosion and possible damage to exposed structures.

Huntington Beach’s October 26 emergency proclamation

City Manager Travis Hopkins, acting as director of emergency services, signed the proclamation on October 26, according to Resolution No. 2026-41, the item prepared for the City Council. The document cites extreme high tides, coastal flooding, high surf and erosion, particularly in Huntington Harbour and Sunset Beach. Conditions ran from October 26 through 29, with tides reaching 8.20 feet. The council was scheduled to consider ratification at a special meeting on October 30. The emergency stays in force until the council ends it by resolution, and the city says the financial impact is unknown while costs are tracked for reimbursement.

The orders give staff authority over temporary street closures, parking restrictions, evacuations, vehicle removal and the protection of seawalls and flood-control devices. On the ground that meant sand berms, sandbags, pumping equipment and preparation for flood rescue. Pacific Coast Highway was closed between Warner Avenue and Anderson Street on October 28, along with Saybrook Lane between Edinger Avenue and Humboldt Drive, and several homes reported flooding and damage. Officials asked boaters to stay out of Huntington Harbour because wakes could worsen harm to docks, bulkheads and private property.

Bay Area advisories and the winter king-tide calendar

Farther north, an NWS coastal flood advisory for San Pablo Bay, San Francisco Bay and Monterey Bay was extended until 6 p.m. PDT on Sunday, November 1, per the Bay Area office’s advisory listing. Marin County’s Office of Emergency Management confirmed road closures including Miller Avenue in Mill Valley and Golden Hind Passage in Corte Madera. Forecasters said vulnerable low spots could see up to 1.9 feet of water over the ground, a possible maximum rather than a measured depth. The San Francisco gauge was forecast at 7.7 feet on October 30, easing to 7.3 feet on October 31 and 6.8 feet on November 1.

The harder question is what comes next. Mark Merrifield, a physical oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography who directs UC San Diego’s Center for Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation, said the 18.6-year lunar nodal cycle and the 4.4-year lunar perigee cycle are both near their peaks, and that California will see “very strong king tides that will superimpose on the high sea levels caused by El Niño.” The Coastal Commission lists its next observation windows as November 24 to 26 and December 23 to 25, and NWS San Diego said the predicted highs for those events will exceed October’s. Florida’s Atlantic coast logged its own gauge records the same week, covered in a separate report on Lake Worth Pier.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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