Q&A of the Day – Apple’s Weather App, King Tides & Sunny Day Flooding
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.
Today’s Entry: Hey Brian- Have you noticed how your iPhone weather apps on a daily basis warn on coastal floods in Palm Beach County? I mean like EVERY day. Really? I got it today again and checking the weather app it shows a chance of rain of near zero (I have).
So what is this about? I hate to be conspiratorial but I wonder if it’s a push on climate crisis validation but I don’t know what else it would be. Thanks for the great daily show.
Bottom Line: There is a non-agenda driven explanation for why you’ve frequently seen coastal flood advisories in South Florida – even without any rain in the forecast. It’s King Tide season. I’ll break down what the impact is in a minute but first about the information you’re seeing in Apple weather app. Apple uses a total of 16 different weather agencies around the world in providing the location information you see in the app. Different agencies are used based upon geography. The two leading agencies which provide weather information in Apple’s native app for South Florida are NOAA and The Weather Channel. To the extent you might think there’s a potential agenda coloring the weather information you might come across with the app it’d be consistent with those entities. Both do have guidance pertaining to climate change and their attestation to the role humans play in causing it in their view. Whether you agree with their assessments of climate change or not, it’s unlikely that their climate guidance colors the day-to-day advisories that are issued.
We have had higher and more frequent King Tides in recent years. Here’s what a King Tide is according to the EPA:
- The King Tide is the highest predicted high tide of the year at a coastal location. It is above the highest water level reached at high tide on an average day.
And why/when do they occur:
- King Tides occur when the orbits and alignment of the Earth, moon, and sun combine to produce the greatest tidal effects of the year.
King Tides are unrelated to sea level rise or any other dynamic which specifically may play out on this planet, though the extent of their impact may be exasperated by higher sea levels. On that note, the maximum height of King Tides has been rising. According to NASA scientists, we’re averaging .06 inches per year in sea level rise and globally sea levels are 8 inches higher than they were on average in 1880. As a result, we’re seeing higher King Tides than we’ve seen previously and that’s why we’re commonly seeing what’s called “sunny day flooding” and receiving weather advisories warning of them.
According to NOAA there’s been a 400% to 1,100% increase in “high tide flooding” days since 2000 along the Atlantic Coast. Most recently Southeast Florida has averaged 8 days of “sunny day” or high tide flooding in the most prone areas annually – up from one or two a couple of decades ago. As for when you can expect more King Tides and the advisories that accompany them...
We’re about halfway through our fall King Tide schedule. Today’s the last day of the current sequence. Remaining King Tides will take place on these days...:
- October 15-17 (today)
- October 26 – November 1
- November 12-16
- November 24-28
Beyond King Tides, tides are often higher during new moon and full moon days which on occasion have led to localized flooding in the most prone areas as well. For that reason, it’s possible that you may also see flood advisories posted around those days throughout the year...with or without rain in the forecast as well.