Gull I. and Nashawena I., between tidal current predictions

Now

Flood 0.4 ktToward E (91°)

Next slack

Fri 12:11 AMEDT

Next max flood

0.9 kt9:36 PM

Next max ebb

1.3 ktFri 2:09 AM

Knots along the channel: above the line the flood, running in toward E (91°); below it the ebb, running out toward WSW (247°). Times are Eastern Daylight Time. Today: ebb 1.4 kt 1:17 AM, slack 4:20 AM, flood 0.9 kt 8:39 AM, slack 11:28 AM, ebb 1.4 kt 1:42 PM, slack 5:12 PM, flood 0.9 kt 9:36 PM.

• Small Craft Advisory Small Craft Advisory issued October 1 at 2:43PM EDT until October 2 at 8:00PM EDT by NWS Boston/Norton MAUntil Fri 8:00 PM
  Full text

  * WHAT...Southwest winds 15 to 20 kt with gusts up to 25 kt and seas 2 to 4 feet expected. * WHERE...Nantucket Sound, Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay. * WHEN...From 11 AM to 8 PM EDT Friday. * 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. This is a subordinate station: NOAA predicts it from a nearby harmonic station by fixed corrections to the times and speeds of its slack waters and maxima, so the curve between them is less exact.

• Canapitsit ChannelHarmonic current station0.9 mi
• Penikese Island, 0.2 mile south ofSubordinate current station1.2 mi
• Penikese Island, 0.8 mile northwest ofSubordinate current station2.6 mi
• MiddleHarmonic current station2.9 mi
• North endSubordinate current station3.0 mi
• South endSubordinate current station3.2 mi
• Gay Head, 3 miles north ofSubordinate current station3.5 mi
• Ribbon Reef-Sow & Pigs Reef, betweenSubordinate current station3.6 mi

• Tide times at Cuttyhunk 1.1 mi
• Tide times at Penikese Island 1.3 mi
• Tide times at Quicks Hole, North side 2.5 mi
• Forecast for Chilmark, 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 ACT1946, bin 1: original at NOAA. Marine alerts from the National Weather Service.