<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=46LlB9_1Gv4L6aS00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=46LlB9_1Gv4L6aS00" width="1200" height="750" ><figcaption>Low tide makes for a steeper walk down this ramp in Harpswell, which could come as a surprise to a young visitor from Missouri. Thanksgiving and Black Friday will see “spring” tides on the Maine coast, with extra-large swings between low and high tide. (Daniel Hoebeke photo)</figcaption></figure>Spring tides in November? While that may seem like an oxymoron, “spring,” in this sense of the word, doesn’t refer to the season. Apparently, “springan” means “to well up” in Old English, so it began to be used to describe particularly large tides.As is true for many aspects of Maine’s natural world, the tides are irregular here. They shift every day and every season in a number of ways. The biggest swing occurs during what we call spring tides. Because tides are caused by gravity, these big tides happen when all of the astronomical bodies that impact them align — Earth, moon and sun. This happens at both the new and the full moons. When all three pull together, the “swing” between high and low is the greatest. That means the highs are extra high and the lows are extra low.Our tidal range in southern Maine is typically around 9 feet. That’s not an insignificant difference, but further down the coast, they can be nearly three times as big. The Bay of Fundy has the biggest tides in the Gulf of Maine. It can be pretty unsettling to see a whole inlet drain out, with boats on the mud and islands you can walk to, then flood with water, with boats floating high at a pier or mooring.One of my first memories in Maine was in Harpswell, when I first came to Maine from Missouri. I asked one of my sailing team members why the ramp was so steep that day. Luckily, they didn’t laugh in my face. Instead, they reminded me of how much the tide changes on our coast.In Maine, we have what are characterized as semidiurnal tides. That means the ramp to the sailing float would be closer to flat twice a day and much steeper twice a day, with about six hours between each extreme. This has a big impact on what can and can’t live along the shore and the adaptations that each organism must develop to survive being wet for a bit and then dry and then wet again and then dry, all in a day. It makes for an incredible array of tidepool creatures that inhabit this “intertidal” (between the tides) space. When you get bigger tides, you get to see more of this habitat and even areas that are typically subtidal and home to an additional group of organisms.During our spring tides, the average 9-foot tides can “spring” as much as an additional 3 feet. Add to that, when the moon, sun and Earth are in a line at the same time that the moon is at its “perigee” (its closest point to the Earth), the tides can be even bigger. These are called king tides. Eastport has measured tides as big as 22 feet during one of these astronomical alignments.While we aren’t likely to see tides like those in Eastport, we are expecting big spring tides at the end of this month. They happen to coincide with Thanksgiving this year, with the peak high of 11 feet occurring in Portland Harbor at midday. It’s the one the evening after, though, that will afford a unique opportunity for some tidepooling in rarely exposed habitat. This low will be more than a foot lower than the average, happening just a bit after sunset at 6:30 p.m. — a perfect time to catch the last light of the day and explore the intertidal. In addition to being grateful for family and friends in your life, it’s an opportunity to be grateful for the incredible coastline we live on and all of the marine life it supports.</div></body>

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Spring tides in November? While that may seem like an oxymoron, “spring,” in this sense of the word, doesn’t refer to the season. Apparently, “springan” means “to well up” in Old English, so it began to be used to describe particularly large tides.

Intertidal: A spring tide for Thanksgiving

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Spring tides in November? While that may seem like an oxymoron, “spring,” in this sense of the word, doesn’t refer to the season. Apparently, “springan” me

Intertidal: A spring tide for Thanksgiving

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