About Tide Times Compare
Tide Times Compare republishes NOAA CO-OPS tide predictions for 218 US coastal places. Each place is joined to the tide-prediction station that actually covers it, and the page carries that station's name, its distance from the place, the datum the heights are measured from and the mean tidal range, alongside 30 days of predicted high and low water. Beside the tables are guides to what the terms mean and to what moves real water away from a prediction.
Why this site exists
The tide is public data, computed and published by a federal agency, and most sites that repeat it do not tell you which station the numbers came from or how far that station is from the beach you are asking about. That distance is often the difference between a table you can use and one you cannot, so it is printed on every page here rather than left out.
Who it is for
People in the United States planning around the water at a named place: fishers, tide poolers, clammers, surfers walking down at low water, and anyone launching a small boat
Not navigators. Anything that floats needs the official NOAA tables and local knowledge, and this site is not a substitute for either
What it does not do
- No page for a coast we cannot licence. This site covers the United States only, where NOAA's work is public domain under 17 USC 105. UK tide predictions sit behind UKHO Crown copyright and other coasts behind their own hydrographic offices, so we publish none of them rather than republish what we may not.
- No invented tide. Every number on this site is NOAA's prediction for a named station. Where no station resolves within 45km of a place we build no page for it, and we say so, instead of interpolating one.
- No surf, no sea temperature, no forecast. Those need sources this site does not hold, and printing them from a tide table would be making them up.
- No pay-to-appear and no enquiry form. Nobody's details are collected here and nobody can buy a position in a NOAA dataset.
What is on this site
6 guides, each with its sources on the page , 2 answers to the questions around them .
- Tide charts: A tide chart is a table of predicted high and low waters for one place, published against a datum so the heights mean something.
- High tide: High tide, or high water, is the moment the rising water stops and turns.
- Low tide: Low tide, or low water, is the moment the falling water stops and turns.
- Tides today: Asking for the tides today only has an answer once you name a place.
- Tides for fishing: The part of the tide that fishes best is the part where the water is moving, because moving water carries food and forces bait into predictable places.
- River tides: A tidal river is one the ocean tide still reaches, and on a big one it can reach a very long way inland.
Where the figures come from
Tide predictions and station data from NOAA CO-OPS (tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov), read 2026-09-10; US Government work, public domain (17 USC 105). Heights are feet above MLLW (mean lower low water); times are the station's own local clock.
Who answers for it
Joseph Ellul, Operator, Tide Times Compare.
Reach us
Contact for a question about the site, or contact@tidetimescompare.com. The legal terms are on Terms and Privacy.