Heavy Rain, King Tides Flood Parts of San Francisco, Bay Area

King tides make for weird sessions. With the water level swinging about 8-feet throughout the day, you’re either surfing during an abnormal high, an astonishing low, or a rapidly rising/dropping tide that changes the takeoff spot and the shape of the wave. 

Much of the Bay Area hasn’t been surfing over the last month-plus due to a series of storms that hit the region in early December, before Christmas, and after New Year’s Eve. It was during the latter when the king tides kicked in around the San Francisco Bay. On Saturday, January 3, the combination of rain and extreme tides led to localized flooding in several low-lying areas around the Bay, including a section of San Francisco's east-facing Embarcadero near the Bay Bridge. 

The perfect storm of factors led to San Francisco recording its highest tide level since 1998, according to the National Weather Service. The city's high tide was 2.56 feet above the typical tidal peak on January 3, the fourth-highest on record. That figure was juiced by 1.28 feet of storm surge blown by the wind, according to NWS meteorologist Dylan Flynn. 

As for San Francisco’s all-time high? The highest recorded level was 2.8 feet above normal in January 1998, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. On Saturday, however, the National Weather Service said several Bay Area cities set their tidal records: Martinez (2.46 feet), Richmond (2.67 feet) and Redwood City (2.7 feet). 

The weekend's storm sent waves crashing over jetties in on the coast in Pacifica and Half Moon Bay, and even at San Francisco's normally tranquil Pier 14. San Francisco remains under a flood advisory until 2 p.m. Sunday. The king tides will recede, but more rain is expected in the Bay Area later this week.