7 January, 2020

From time to time, coastal areas around
the world will report much higher than normal tidal surges known as
perigean spring tides or ‘King Tides’, caused by several
factors including the proximity and alignment of the sun and moon to
the Earth.

In 2020, King Tides are expected to
occur in Cayman during mid-January and again in early to mid-February
coinciding with the full moons for those months. Scientists at the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are able to
predict these ‘King Tides’ each year and they are not normally
considered cause for alarm. However, given our low-lying
topography and rising sea levels associated with global climate
change, the Department of Environment (DoE) is keen to begin to
better understand potential impacts resulting from these events.
Depending on the location of the sun and moon relative to the
Earth at the time, tides may rise just a few inches to a couple of
feet above normal.

Residents in all three Cayman Islands
may notice higher tides during January and February of this year and,
if they do, the DoE is asking them to document those occurrences by
taking photographs and sending the pictures to the DoE.

“In recent years we are aware of
increasing instances of seawater from King Tides washing into some
low-lying local streetsor
groundwater backing up in storm drains,” said Wendy Williams,
manager of DoE’s environmental management unit. “Unfortunately,
we don’t currently have any annual,
reliableobservations of
these occurrences. DoE staff members will document the high tide
incidents they are aware of, but more eyes watching are always
helpful.”

“Having better annual records of
these high tide events can help us to understand what a future sea
level rise might look like, and thus aid in making preparations for
such an event,” said Minister of Environment, the Hon. Dwayne
Seymour. “I would encourage Cayman residents to participate and
help us to document these events so we can learn from them.”

Anyone with photos and information of
King Tide events may send that information to our email address,
DoE@gov.ky or call us to report it at
949-8469.