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Many of us pay attention to the tidal charts to plan our fishing trips. The tides can be estimated well in advance -- these are the graphs that are posted online. Wind events can easily override the tides in our area -- sometimes we find quite different water levels than expected based on the graphs alone.
The Severn River tides (USNA station) for today and the adjacent days are interesting. They clearly show that the two daily highs and lows are not always equal. Look at the tide chart for Oct 29 and 30 shown below.
hi lo tide graph.jpg
Last night had a particularly "high" high tide. The low tide that occurred during the early morning hours was a "high" low tide. This morning’s high was a "low" high tide. When I launched from the Tucker St ramp shortly after 8:00 am this morning, the water should have been higher on the shoreline, but was already pretty low. This was caused by a brisk wind from the northwest that tends to push water out of the Severn. When I returned about 11:00 am, the water level was quite low. Low tide was supposed to hit at 1:51 pm, nearly three hours later. It was projected to be a very "low" low tide, even before taking the wind into account.
The next graph shows the tides for the same station over a longer period of time. We are coming off of a full moon that tends to make more extreme tides. The differential between highs and lows gradually diminishes, and the difference between the two daily highs and daily lows drops too.
Annapolis data.jpg
I did not take any photos at the ramp today. I found a few other photos I took at Tucker St under unusually high and low tides. The high water shot was taken earlier this month during the nor'easter.
001.jpg
The low water shot was taken in Feb 2012 following several days of strong NW winds blowing water out of the river.
003.jpg
The Severn River tides (USNA station) for today and the adjacent days are interesting. They clearly show that the two daily highs and lows are not always equal. Look at the tide chart for Oct 29 and 30 shown below.
hi lo tide graph.jpg
Last night had a particularly "high" high tide. The low tide that occurred during the early morning hours was a "high" low tide. This morning’s high was a "low" high tide. When I launched from the Tucker St ramp shortly after 8:00 am this morning, the water should have been higher on the shoreline, but was already pretty low. This was caused by a brisk wind from the northwest that tends to push water out of the Severn. When I returned about 11:00 am, the water level was quite low. Low tide was supposed to hit at 1:51 pm, nearly three hours later. It was projected to be a very "low" low tide, even before taking the wind into account.
The next graph shows the tides for the same station over a longer period of time. We are coming off of a full moon that tends to make more extreme tides. The differential between highs and lows gradually diminishes, and the difference between the two daily highs and daily lows drops too.
Annapolis data.jpg
I did not take any photos at the ramp today. I found a few other photos I took at Tucker St under unusually high and low tides. The high water shot was taken earlier this month during the nor'easter.
001.jpg
The low water shot was taken in Feb 2012 following several days of strong NW winds blowing water out of the river.
003.jpg
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