Tonight, cloud cover permitting, you will have the opportunity to view a true "Harvest Moon". A full moon at this time of the year, has been referred to as a "Harvest Moon" because at one time the farmers would harvest their crops throughout the night. The full moon tonight is special, in the fact that due to it's present position, it will be 12% larger than the typical full moon.

The full moon is also the time of the month that we always experience our largest tides, this month is no exception. This is a weather alert for the lower Kenai Peninsula and possible "bore tide" sighting in the area of Turnagain Arm. We have the potential of seeing the sea scape in Anchor Point and Homer take a drastic change over the weekend. I have spent this rainy day tabulating data, if the National Weather Service, Alaska Region is correct in their predictions, it could be a very interesting weekend if two factors collide in sequence.

The Marine Forecast for Lower Cook Inlet on Saturday calls for SE wind increasing to 25 knots on Saturday with seas to 8 feet. On Sunday, the wind will increase out of the NE at 35 knots and the seas will build to 14 feet. On Monday, the wind will switch to easterly 40 knots and seas building to sixteen feet. This severe weather pattern on Saturday and Sunday will coincide with some extreme high tides. Anchor Point and Homer will experience the largest tides that we have seen in the past five years. On Saturday, in Anchor Point the high tide will occur at 3:42 pm at 23.4 feet. The following low tide will occur at 9:50 pm, a low of minus 4.3 feet. That is an exchange of 27.70 feet of water in a period of six hours or a drop of 4.62 feet of water per hour. On Sunday, with a forecast of seas to 14 feet, the high tide will be a 23.6 foot tide at 4:18 p.m. dropping to a low tide of minus 4.6 feet. The exchange will be 28.2 feet of water, a drop of 4.7 feet per hour. If you recall, my rebuttal pertaining to those large waves that raised havoc with the Antarctica iceberg, which supposedly traveled at 57 mph. You will be happy to know that despite these large tidal exchanges that we will see in Cook Inlet, at five miles NW of Anchor Point, the tidal current will be 3.1 to 3.5 knots. We will be at the Anchor Point Beach on Saturday and Sunday, I am sure we are going to be seeing some major changes at the mouth of the Anchor River. If the weather and tides coincide, we also have the potential to see a change in the sea scape of the Homer Spit.
For those living in the LA area, you may want to pack up the little ones and park along Turnagain Arm. The high tide on Saturday will be at 7:58 am at 32.8 feet and again at 8:08 pm with a height of 33.3 feet. On Sunday, the high tide will be at 8:44am at 32.9 feet and again at 8:45 pm with a 33.7 foot tide. This particular tide, will have an exchange of 35.5 feet of water, or a drop of 5.92 feet per hour. If you do not see a bore tide on one of these four tides, they are indeed a fallacy and do not exist. Good Luck in your beach combing.