Lowest tides in 13 years coming to Puget Sound

Puget Sound should see its lowest tides in more than a decade on Wednesday and Thursday.

Very low tides come every summer, driven by the relative positions of the earth, moon, and sun.

But thanks to an 18.6-year wobble in the moon’s orbit, the lows are extra low this summer.

That wobble, known as the lunar nodal cycle, is nearing its 2025 peak, and it is helping the tide slosh in and out of Puget Sound a little more powerfully than usual.

“We are approaching a peak of the lunar nodal cycle, in which the difference between the high and low tides will be larger than it is at other times,” said Port Angeles-based oceanographer Ian Miller with Washington Sea Grant.

Miller says the cycle can push a low tide down an extra six inches.

Puget Sound tides are expected to retreat to an unusual degree the week of June 12, exposing areas that are seldom left high and dry.