When to come, if the tide is why you are coming

The big low tides on this coast do not happen at the same time of day all year. From September to January they fall while it is light. From March to July they fall in the dark — in May by more than a foot.

This is not a reason to stay away. Shells wash up in every month of the year and the wrack line does not check a calendar. What changes is whether the bars are uncovered while you are awake to walk them. If you are choosing between two weeks in a year and the tide is what you are optimising, that is the whole answer.

Right now: September

The low tides are landing in daylight this month. The median daylight low at Lighthouse Beach runs 0.5 ft, against 1.4 ft overnight. This is the part of the year the bars are open to walk.

The whole year

Median low-water height at Lighthouse Beach, from NOAA's own harmonic predictions across 2024–2027. Lower uncovers more bar.

Where the month's lowest water lands
Month	Daylight low	Overnight low	The big lows fall
January	-0.4 ft	0.3 ft	Daylight
February	0.0 ft	-0.2 ft	Either
March	0.6 ft	-0.3 ft	After dark
April	1.1 ft	-0.2 ft	After dark
May	1.3 ft	-0.1 ft	After dark
June	1.2 ft	-0.0 ft	After dark
July	1.1 ft	0.1 ft	After dark
August	0.8 ft	0.6 ft	Either
September	0.5 ft	1.4 ft	Daylight
October	0.3 ft	1.7 ft	Daylight
November	0.2 ft	1.0 ft	Daylight
December	-0.2 ft	0.7 ft	Daylight

Why it works this way

This coast has a mixed tide: the two daily lows are not the same depth, and which of them is the deeper one shifts through the year. That shift is astronomy, it repeats, and it is already inside NOAA's predictions — which is why this table can be measured years ahead rather than guessed at. It is not weather and no forecast changes it.

What weather does change is where the water actually sits on the day, and that is the wind correction described on the methodology page.