King Tide

King high tides occur once or twice a year, when the orbits and alignment of the sun, earth and moon combine to maximize the gravitational pull on the earth's oceans, resulting in the highest tides of the year. In Rhode Island, the king high tides in late October 2015 ran 1.5 times higher than the average high tide. These extreme events provide insight into what the coast can expect as sea levels rise with climate change: this could be what our daily high tide looks like by mid-century. King high tides and storm events would push levels even higher, exacerbating loss of property and habitat.