Video taking off 17x its usual first day

Bay Area faces "highest tides in 18 years," KPIX forecasts

Meteorologist Zoe Mintz explains how lunar cycles, warmer water and a possible storm surge could combine to raise the flooding risk.

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KPIX | CBS NEWS BAY AREA Story of October 19, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 37,228 views a day, 17 times a normal first day on this channel (2,190).

Bay Area expecting highest King Tides in 18 years as various factors align

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0:08Mintz forecasts the Bay Area's highest fall and winter tides in 18 years.
0:23Earth's proximity to the sun and the moon's alignment and distance help amplify high tides.
1:16She illustrates how the 18.6-year lunar nodal cycle changes the tidal range.
1:53El Niño, marine heatwaves, thermal expansion and sea level rise add oceanographic factors.
2:30The December forecast is 7.33 feet, compared with San Francisco's historical record of 8 feet.
3:20A winter storm surge arriving with the highest tides could produce record flooding, Mintz warns.

An exceptionally high tide is one problem. A winter storm arriving at the same time could make it much worse, CBS News Bay Area meteorologist Zoe Mintz explains in a report on the Bay Area's coming high-water season.

Her KPIX segment drew about 19,000 views in eight hours, well beyond the channel's usual first-day audience for a regular video. Rather than stopping at a warning, Mintz walks through the forces that can stack together along the shoreline.

Some come from astronomy: Earth's closest approach to the sun, the alignment of the sun and moon, and the moon's own closest approach to Earth. She also illustrates a long lunar cycle that changes the tidal range. Others come from the ocean itself, including El Niño, marine heatwaves and the expansion of warming water, alongside sea level rise.

Mintz's projected December tide remains below San Francisco's historical record on its own. The crucial uncertainty is what the weather adds: a storm surge coinciding with those already elevated tides could produce record flooding, she warns.

The report adds a mechanical explanation to the winter flooding concerns we reported here earlier. In the closing exchange with anchor Max Darrow, the focus returns to what high water means on land: coastal communities and disrupted travel.

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