Oregon Coast Minus Tide Calendar 2026: Every Daylight Minus Tide, Month by Month

Oregon's morning minus-tide runs have passed for 2026. As of September 17, October 25 is the highest-scoring October window at all four stations; Port Orford (NOAA 9431647) reaches −0.51 ft at 6:11 PM. The strongest remaining 2026 window is Port Orford on December 23: −2.07 ft, score 72 (Good). Its low is after sunset—113 minutes of daylight overlap earlier in the window, not at low water.

Across July–December, the four stations total 206 qualifying minus-tide windows; 125 fell in July and August. These are station counts, not 206 separate dates or 206 windows still ahead.

How were these numbers computed?

NOAA harmonic predictions for each station, crossed with the sun's computed position there, then scored 0–100 for depth and daylight overlap; formulas on the methodology page. Here, a daylight minus-tide window means a predicted low below 0 ft MLLW with at least 30 minutes of daylight inside the site's below-+1.0-ft window. It does not require daylight at the low or throughout the window. Counts are per station: one calendar day can appear up to four times. Predictions are not observations, and these station calculations do not establish whether a particular beach or route is open or reachable.

Recomputed 2026-09-17 from the complete July 1–December 31 fact-sheet range for NOAA stations 9437540, 9435380, 9432780, and 9431647. This replaces the older 198-window total. Historical event tables below retain their original computation stamps.

What does each month look like?

Each table shows the month's highest-scoring daylight window per station; day-by-day grids are linked as we go.

July 2026: the main event, now in the rearview

Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA stations 9437540, 9435380, 9432780, 9431647.

All four were Exceptional, and July 13 was only the front edge; the deepest water came on the 14th and 15th (the ten deepest windows of the half-year, preserved below, all fell in this run). Day grids: Garibaldi, Newport, Charleston, Port Orford.

August 2026: the last Great-band run, August 11–14 — and one Saturday encore

Computed 2026-07-03, re-verified 2026-08-04, from NOAA stations 9437540, 9435380, 9432780, 9431647.

All four landed in the Great band, and that was it for the year: after August 14, no Oregon station posts another Great-band daylight window in 2026 — the deep dusk lows of late November and December bring the depth back but top out at 72 (Good). The next Great-band daylight window anywhere on this coast is January 21, 2027 at Port Orford (−1.89 ft at a 5:12 PM low), and the next coast-wide run waits for May 7–9, 2027. The run's shape, day by day at Newport, the depth leader, preserved for the record:

Computed 2026-08-04 from NOAA station 9435380 predictions.

Read the two curves crossing: depth peaked Wednesday, daylight peaked Friday — each low arrived 37 to 50 minutes later than the day before (the lunar day's lag), walking the window out of the pre-dawn dark and into full morning light. The same shape repeated at all four stations, with the low sweeping south to north — on the 12th it hit Port Orford at 6:19 AM, Charleston at 6:35, Newport at 6:46, and Garibaldi at 7:04, a 45-minute lag end to end.

August closed with one encore: Saturday the 29th delivered a morning minus tide at all four stations — −0.25 ft at Garibaldi (8:05 AM low), −0.32 ft at Newport (7:41 AM), −0.09 ft at Charleston (7:30 AM), and Port Orford grazing the line at −0.004 ft (7:13 AM), the two northern stations in the Good band (computed 2026-08-21, preserved for the record).

August had more computed windows under +1.0 ft than July at every station (29 to 31, versus 26 apiece, recomputed 2026-09-17), yet fewer qualifying minus-tide windows: 51 against July's 74. The lows weren't going away; they were sliding out of daylight. August grids: Garibaldi, Newport, Charleston, Port Orford.

September 2026: the fade

Computed 2026-07-03, re-verified 2026-09-07, from NOAA stations 9437540, 9435380, 9432780, 9431647.

The monthly best scores are Fair, and the whole-month minus-window count drops from August's 51 to 18. The first three best dates in this table have passed. Port Orford's September 27 window remains ahead but is not a minus tide at +0.02 ft; it makes the table as the station's best-scoring window.

September 9–12 was the year's exit from qualifying morning minus tides. The run's deepest low was Wednesday the 9th at Newport (−0.95 ft, 5:39 AM); Saturday the 12th brought Garibaldi (−0.004 ft, 7:55 AM) and Newport (−0.04 ft, 7:34 AM) just below zero. Those figures were computed September 7 and are preserved as history. The complete remaining 2026 range has no qualifying morning minus-tide windows at these four stations. For the rest of September, use the current station calendars: Garibaldi, Newport, Charleston, Port Orford.

October 2026: one Sunday evening

Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA stations 9437540, 9435380, 9432780, 9431647.

October 25 is the highest-scoring October date at all four stations, not the month's only qualifying date. The windows overlap daylight for 48 minutes at Garibaldi, 85 at Newport, 98 at Charleston and 120 at Port Orford (rechecked 2026-09-17). Only Port Orford's low itself occurs before sunset; the other three lows are after sunset. Full October charts: Garibaldi, Newport, Charleston, Port Orford.

November 2026: depth returns before daylight does

Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA stations 9437540, 9435380, 9432780, 9431647.

Depth is back below −1.7 ft south of Garibaldi, and Charleston (60) and Port Orford (67) reach Good. All four selected lows are after sunset; their scores include daylight earlier in the window, not daylight at low water.

December 2026: deep, dark, and short

Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA stations 9437540, 9435380, 9432780, 9431647.

Port Orford's 72 (Good) on December 23 is the best remaining 2026 score across these four stations. All four December table lows occur after sunset. Christmas Eve is deeper still, −2.21 ft at Port Orford and −2.05 ft at Charleston, but those windows overlap daylight for only 69 and 36 minutes, before low water. Winter gives the depth back, not the light. The same December alignment produces the season's highest highs; the Oregon coast king tides 2026–27 guide lists those dates station by station.

What were the ten deepest Exceptional windows?

Fifteen windows scored 90 (Exceptional) between July and December 2026, every one on July 13–16 — the half-year's peak, preserved here for the record. The complete-range count was rechecked September 17; the ten deepest rows remain unchanged:

Computed 2026-07-03 from NOAA stations 9437540, 9435380, 9432780, 9431647.

First and second place are the same beach two mornings apart, separated by five thousandths of a foot (−2.522 versus −2.517). The longest daylight overlap, 295 minutes, shows up twice: Garibaldi July 15 and Newport July 16. One deeper window misses the table on score, not depth: Port Orford on Monday, July 13 bottoms at −2.265 ft, below rows 9 and 10, but its 5:49 AM low overlaps only 168 minutes of daylight and scores 88 (Great), just under the Exceptional line.

Which windows fall on a weekend?

Not the big ones: July 13–16 ran Monday through Thursday, and August 11–14 ran Tuesday through Friday. Midweek is where the depth lives on this coast.

August 29's coast-wide Saturday morning and September 12's final weekend morning run have both passed. Sunday, October 25 is still ahead and leads October by score at all four stations: lows range from −0.51 ft at Port Orford (6:11 PM) to −0.79 ft at Newport (6:37 PM). It is not a coast-wide winner over every remaining weekend; the table ranks within October. Port Orford's nearer Sunday-evening window on September 27 is +0.02 ft, just above the minus line. The Trip Picker compares other remaining weekends when your dates are fixed. Check daylight overlap separately from the low time, then check the land manager's access information.

Which station should you watch?

• Newport (South Beach), station 9435380: depth champion, with both −2.52 ft windows, four of the ten deepest Exceptional windows, and 52 qualifying minus-tide windows in July–December. The Yaquina Head + Otter Rock guide discusses those nearby sites separately; the station predictions are not an access clearance.
• Port Orford, station 9431647: volume and winter leader at 56, including 8 in November and 9 in December.
• Charleston (Coos Bay), station 9432780: a close second at 54, including 7 in December.
• Garibaldi (Tillamook Bay), station 9437540: front-loaded, with 32 of its 44 in July and August and just 2 in October.

December's counts step south like odd numbers: Garibaldi 3, Newport 5, Charleston 7, Port Orford 9. That compares predicted daylight overlap, not site accessibility; all four stations are indexed under Oregon beaches.

One safety note

Oregon State Parks advises: "Always keep one eye on the ocean so you won't be caught off guard if a bigger wave surges up the beach." Read its current beach guidance, rechecked September 17. The site's computed arrive-by labels are not verified beach opening times or route-clearance instructions.

The Tide Window Finder shows the next 30 days, while the Year Heatmap offers the longer view. The calendar feeds page has a subscribable 12-month feed for each Oregon station, limited to Good-or-better windows (score 60+); the Fair October 25 windows do not appear in those feeds. Use the monthly charts above for the full high-and-low sequence. The morning runs are history; the remaining windows need a closer look at the light.