High Tide Is Coming

Only eight years from now, high tide will be this much higher at Wellfleet Bay (photo by Kate St.John)
Only eight years from now, high tide will be this much higher at Wellfleet Bay (photo by Kate St.John)

Last weekend at Cape Cod I went on two outings at Massachusetts Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary led by Joel Wagner, a birder from Gettysburg, PA who now works at Wellfleet and Saco, Maine.

At low tide we visited the salt marsh and bay shore to look for shorebirds.  On our way there, Joel pointed out the Average High Tide markers with dates of future tides.  I was astonished to see that in only eight years the average high tide will move up from that distant 2017 marker to this one.

It’s even worse in the decades ahead.  This photo shows the 2075 marker with the earlier years in the distance.  The 2025 marker is so far away that it’s out of sight.  The trees in this photo will die when salt water reaches them.

Average high tide in 2075 will be here at Wellleet Bay (photo by Kate St. John)
Average high tide in 2075 will be here at Wellleet Bay (photo by Kate St. John)

The highest tides today, the spring tides, already swamp the 2017 marker.

Sea level is rising.  High tide is coming. Watch out if you live by the sea.

 

Unfamiliar with sea level rise?  Read more here at Yes, The Sea is Rising.

(photos by Kate St.John)

One thought on “High Tide Is Coming

  1. Thank you, Kate. That certainly makes it possible to visualize. What would our nation’s leaders say about this post?

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