Boston Channel Light No.5 tidal current predictions

Now

Flood 0.4 ktToward WNW (283°)

Next slack

Sun 1:34 AMEDT

Next max flood

0.6 kt10:04 PM

Next max ebb

0.5 ktSun 4:07 AM

Knots along the channel: above the line the flood, running in toward WNW (283°); below it the ebb, running out toward ESE (104°). Times are Eastern Daylight Time. Today: slack 12:49 AM, ebb 0.4 kt 3:25 AM, slack 6:07 AM, flood 0.6 kt 9:35 AM, slack 1:01 PM, ebb 0.4 kt 3:20 PM, slack 6:15 PM, flood 0.6 kt 10:04 PM.

• Storm Warning Storm Warning issued September 26 at 12:26PM EDT until September 27 at 10:00AM EDT by NWS Boston/Norton MAUntil Sun 10:00 AM
  Full text

  * WHAT...Northeast winds 20 to 25 kt with gusts up to 50 kt and waves 2 to 4 feet. * WHERE...In Massachusetts coastal waters, Boston Harbor. In Rhode Island coastal waters, Narragansett Bay. * WHEN...Until 10 AM EDT Sunday. * IMPACTS...Storm force winds and hazardous waves will capsize or damage vessels and reduce visibility.

  Mariners should remain in port, alter course, and/or secure the vessel for severe 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.

• Thompson Island, 0.7 nmi NNE ofSubordinate current station0.2 mi
• Fort Independence, 0.3 nmi east ofSubordinate current station0.3 mi
• Fort Independence, 0.1nm north ofHarmonic current station0.6 mi
• Castle islandCurrent meter (NOAA PORTS)0.7 mi
• Spectacle Island, 0.4nm north ofHarmonic current station0.7 mi
• Spectacle I. and Thompson I., betweenSubordinate current station1.1 mi
• City Point, 0.8 nmi SSE ofSubordinate current station1.3 mi
• Deer Island Light, 1.0 nmi WSW ofSubordinate current station1.4 mi

• Tide times at Moon Head 1.9 mi
• Tide times at Deer Island (south end) 2.2 mi
• Tide times at Boston 2.8 mi
• Forecast for Boston Seaport, MA
• Open the live map with tidal currents
• All tidal current stations in Massachusetts

Tidal current predictions from NOAA’s Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS), station BOS1113, bin 21: original at NOAA. Marine alerts from the National Weather Service.