Stepping Stones tidal current predictions

Now

Flood 0.3 ktToward NNE (18°)

Next slack

11:15 PMEDT

Next max flood

0.5 ktSat 8:45 AM

Next max ebb

0.8 ktSat 2:11 AM

Knots along the channel: above the line the flood, running in toward NNE (18°); below it the ebb, running out toward SSW (197°). Times are Eastern Daylight Time. Today: ebb 0.8 kt 1:23 AM, slack 5:50 AM, flood 0.4 kt 7:58 AM, slack 10:52 AM, ebb 0.8 kt 1:45 PM, slack 6:04 PM, flood 0.4 kt 8:17 PM, slack 11:15 PM.

• Small Craft Advisory Small Craft Advisory issued September 25 at 2:26PM EDT until September 27 at 8:00PM EDT by NWS Gray MEUntil Sun 8:00 PM
  Full text

  * WHAT...Northeast winds 15 to 25 kt with gusts up to 30 kt and seas 3 to 6 ft. * WHERE...Penobscot Bay and Casco Bay. * WHEN...Until 8 PM EDT Sunday. * IMPACTS...Conditions will be hazardous to small craft.

  Inexperienced mariners, especially those operating smaller vessels, should avoid navigating in hazardous conditions.

The flood is the tidal current running in from the sea, the ebb the current running back out. Slack water is the short turn between them, when the current is weakest: the time to cross a strong channel, anchor, or dive. Slack in a channel is not the time of high or low tide; it can come hours after.

Speeds are knots along the channel's main axis, and directions are degrees true toward which the water flows, as NOAA prints its tables. A current against the wind stands the waves up steep and close together.

Predictions are astronomical: the moon and the sun, not the weather. Strong wind, river flow after heavy rain and storm surge all change the real current.

• Chandler Cove, S. EntHarmonic current station0.8 mi
• Lucksee Sound Between Hope and Cliff IsHarmonic current station0.9 mi
• Long Island, Mariner LedgeHarmonic current station1.6 mi
• Hussey Sound, Cow IslandHarmonic current station2.3 mi
• Cow Island, NE ofHarmonic current station2.4 mi
• Hussey Sound, Between Long and Peaks IslandHarmonic current station2.8 mi
• Eagle Island W. of., Broad SoundHarmonic current station3.6 mi
• Littlejohn Island, South of Town LedgeHarmonic current station4.0 mi

• Tide times at Cliff Island, Luckse Sound 1.1 mi
• Tide times at Vaill Island 1.7 mi
• Tide times at Great Chebeague Island 1.8 mi
• Forecast for Falmouth Foreside, ME
• Open the live map with tidal currents
• All tidal current stations in Maine

Tidal current predictions from NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS), station CAB1415, bin 12: original at NOAA. Marine alerts from the National Weather Service.