JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – This week, you may notice some nuisance flooding around the St. Johns River and near the Atlantic coast. The coastal flooding will be caused by astronomically high tides called spring tides.
Onshore winds set to develop through mid-week will help boost the water toward the coast and river, sending water levels 1 to 2 feet above the average high water mark.
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Some of the highest tides will be Wednesday around 9 to 10 in the morning, a day after the new moon.
A spring tide has nothing to do with the season of spring, rather, the term is derived from the concept of the tide “springing forth.” Spring tides occur twice each lunar month all year long during full or new moons.
The moon appears new (dark) when it is directly between the Earth and the sun. The moon appears full when the Earth is between the moon and the sun.
In both cases, the gravitational pull of the sun is “added” to the gravitational pull of the moon on Earth, causing the oceans to bulge a bit more than usual.
This means that high tides are a little higher and low tides are a little lower than average.