King Tides 2026 & 2027 Dates: High-Tide Schedule and Low-Tide Windows

King-tide dates are local, not one national weekend. Across our 12 NOAA stations, October's highest predicted tides fall October 27–29, November's November 25–27, and December's December 24–26, 2026. Seattle (9447130) reaches +13.01 ft MLLW on December 26; La Jolla (9410230) reaches +7.10 ft on December 24. These are computed monthly peaks, not flooding forecasts. The high-tide schedule comes first below, followed by low-tide windows through March 2027.

Looking for one state? The Washington king tides 2026–27 guide covers Seattle, Port Townsend and La Push, and the Oregon coast king tides 2026–27 guide covers Garibaldi through Port Orford, each with its own dates, heights and daylight low-tide windows. California and Maine stations appear in the tables on this page.

King tide schedule: October, November and December 2026

Each row selects the highest predicted high tide in that calendar month at one station, using all its high-tide predictions—not just daytime tides or the season's five highest. If two predictions tie, the first is shown. This answers the late-2026 schedule question without letting a December peak hide October and November.

These are station-specific monthly maxima, not a list of every date an official local king-tide program might name. Times are local to the station, including daylight-saving changes. Heights are feet above that station's MLLW datum; they are not flood depths and should not be read as elevations on a common national scale. Predictions are not observations.

October 2026: monthly high-tide peaks

November 2026: monthly high-tide peaks

December 2026: monthly high-tide peaks

Computed September 11, 2026 from NOAA CO-OPS predictions. The complete daily high/low tables are different from these one-row-per-month selections: use a station link above for its published month tables, or its NOAA station source below.

What makes a king tide “king”?

NOAA uses king tide as an informal term for exceptionally high tides. It is not a single national holiday on the tidal calendar.

A spring tide occurs around a new or full moon, when the sun and moon's effects reinforce one another: highs are higher and lows lower than average. When that alignment occurs near the moon's closest approach to Earth, it is a perigean spring tide. Local tidal patterns, season and weather also matter. The highest predicted tide in a month is not automatically proof of a perigean event.

The high-water question and the tidepooling question therefore need separate tables. NOAA's monthly high-tide flooding outlook addresses flooding likelihood. The table below instead compares low-water windows over October 1, 2026–March 31, 2027—our comparison period, not an official nationwide king-tide season.

Lowest lows with daylight overlap, October 2026–March 2027

“Daylight overlap” means at least 30 minutes of daylight somewhere in the computed below-+1.0-ft window. It does not mean the low occurs in daylight, or that the entire window is in daylight. The lowest row is selected by tide height, not by the highest score.

Computed September 11, 2026 from the same station predictions and Tidewindow's daylight calculation. All times are local. The score combines depth, daylight and calendar factors; see the methodology. It does not establish access, weather conditions or park opening hours.

The distinction matters at Newport: December 23's -1.91 ft low is at 5:53 PM, after sunset. Its 60 daylight minutes are earlier in the 3:40 PM–8:20 PM computed window. Calling that a “daylight low” would give the wrong impression. Bar Harbor's January 23 low likewise occurs after sunset despite 60 minutes of overlap.

Puget Sound: high-water dates are not daylight low-water dates

Seattle has a December high of +13.01 ft on December 26 at 7:22 AM. Yet both Seattle and Port Townsend have zero qualifying daylight low-tide windows in November and December 2026. A striking high-water date does not supply a corresponding daytime low-water outing.

Seattle's lowest qualifying low in the October–March comparison is -0.65 ft on March 25, 2027 at 1:45 PM. Port Townsend's is -1.64 ft on February 17 at 7:06 PM, with just 57 minutes of daylight elsewhere in its window. The Washington king-tides guide separates Puget Sound from the Olympic coast; those stations should not be treated as interchangeable.

Oregon: depth and daylight tell different stories

The Oregon coast king tides 2026–27 guide separates official photo-series dates from predicted highs and low-tide windows at all four stations. In this October–March selection, Port Orford reaches -2.21 ft on December 24 at 6:14 PM, but its window has 69 daylight minutes. Newport's December 23 example has 60. Those are depth records within the stated selection, not promises of daylight at low water.

That is why the daylight column belongs beside the height column. “Lowest” and “most daylight” are different rankings, and neither is a local-access assessment.

Southern California: the low-water side of the schedule

La Jolla's five lowest qualifying lows in the comparison period retain substantially more daylight in their windows:

NOAA 9410230, La Jolla (Scripps Pier). The five lowest qualifying lows are displayed in date order, not score order.

January 21 combines -1.89 ft at 2:48 PM with 311 daylight minutes. December 25 scores higher—90, or Exceptional—even though its -1.72 ft low is shallower. Weekend and holiday factors are part of the score, so the number is not a pure ranking of depth or daylight.

Nor is a holiday score permission to enter a park. For example, Cabrillo National Monument's posted hours say the monument is closed on Christmas Day and the tidepool area normally closes at 4:30 PM. Cabrillo uses the separate San Diego station in the table above. A regional tide date cannot override those restrictions. The California tide-pools guide compares the stations and their access sources.

Maine: keep the clock beside the depth

Bar Harbor's January 23, 2027 low is -1.89 ft at 5:20 PM, with 60 daylight minutes earlier in its window. That is a winter low-water comparison, not a Bar Island crossing schedule. The Acadia guide keeps park guidance separate from station tide predictions.

Check your dates, then keep the useful ones

For a fixed trip later in the season, start with the Trip Picker: choose the station and your date range. For the next 30 days, the Tide Window Finder can select the nearest covered station from a ZIP code. Both help compare computed low-water windows; neither is the high-tide flooding outlook. King-tide season on the Pacific coast is also large-swell season: What Is a Sneaker Wave? collects the National Weather Service's definition and its watch-the-ocean guidance for winter beaches.

The calendar feeds carry Good-or-better daylight windows, not every monthly high above. The station picker below offers the same low-window subscription. For a broader view, use the year heatmap, or inspect the prediction data on the open datasets page. The weekly email follows windows as they come into range.

A high-tide date answers one question. A low-water time, daylight overlap and the relevant access information answer the next ones.