Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

When will Vancouver see another king tide? Environment Canada weighs in

Locals should prepare for another king tide soon.
vancouver-king-tide-flood
Vancouver was hit with a week of rain, snow melt, and a king tide storm which caused flooding and damage across the city.

An influx of rain, snow melt, and a king tide storm flooded parts of Vancouver and caused damage across the city. 

The city saw burst pipes, flooded roads, and backups into underground parking lots, along with several submerged sections of the Stanley Park Seawall and Kitsilano Pool. 

Despite the week of wet weather, more rainfall is expected throughout the region. 

Locals should prepare for another king tide too.

When will Vancouver get another king tide?

King tides are typically seen between November and February, explains Environment Canada meteorologist Alyssa Charbonneau, adding that the heavy tides are predicted by "the placement of the sun and the moon and the gravitational pull."

Though a king tide did contribute to the flooding seen in Vancouver, it was only part of the equation. 

"King tides cause even more impact when we have a storm surge on top of it," she tells Vancouver Is Awesome. A storm surge is a rise in sea level that happens above the tide and that is caused by a low pressure system.

"When a storm surge hits at the same time as a king tide, then you can get much higher tidal water levels and that's when we see some of the coastal flooding and damage," Charbonneau explains. 

According to the meteorologist, the next king tide is forecasted from Jan. 21 to Jan. 26.

However, Charbonneau says that it's too early to predict the impact of the next tide.