The Proxigean Tide occurs when the Moon is at its closest point in its orbit to the Earth and in its New or Full Moon phase. At this time, its tidal effect on the Earth is maximum. The times when this will happen often coincide with major coastal flooding events. Between 1997 and 2020 there will be 102 times when this will happen. You can see the list by looking at Fergus J. Wood's book Tidal Dynamics published in 1978 by D. Reidel Publishing company, Dordrecht Holland. There are tables computed by van Flandern at the U.S. Naval Observatory. Here is a short list of the most extreme events based on the time between perigee and syzygy being less than 5 hours:
Date Phase 2/7/1997 New Moon 9/16/1997 Full Moon 3/28/1998 N 11/4/1998 F 5/15/1999 N 7/1/2000 N 8/19/2001 N 10/16/2002 N 3/11/2003 N 1/10/2005 N 2/28/2006 N 12/12/2008 F 1/30/2010 F 3/19/2011 F 5/6/2012 F 6/23/2013 F 8/10/2014 F 9/28/2015 F 11/14/2016 F 5/25/2017 N 1/2/2018 F 7/13/2018 N 8/30/2019 N 10/16/2020 N 12/4/2021 N 1/21/2023 N
New Moon is pretty bad because both the Sun and the Moon are on the same side of the Earth, and with the Moon near its closest point to the Earth, the tide- making potential is highest. I will probably not plan to be on the beach on the above dates!
Copyright 1997 Dr. Sten Odenwald
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