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Maximum Harbormaster East Coast Tide Clock in Brass

Track the Tide

The Harbormaster is a precision East Coast tide clock. It makes it easy to track the tide at your favorite coastal location, regardless of where you are.

 

Time is a Precious Commodity

The Meridian helps you keep track of time in a classic, elegant display that can stand alone or as part of a complete weather station.

Digital Time and East Coast Tide Clock

The Cronus gives you both functions in a single digital time and tide clock. This East Coast tide clock can be enjoyed on its own or as a complement to our other digital weather instruments.

How Does the Tide Work?

How does the tide clock work, exactly? It has been known for centuries along the East Coast, tides occur approximately 50 minutes later each day than they did the day before.  The primary reason for this daily lag can be traced to the moon. It takes the earth 24 hours to make one complete 360-degree rotation.  This rotation is called a “solar day”. It takes the moon 24 hours and 50 minutes to complete one rotation around the earth. This rotation is called a “lunar day”.  It is the moon’s close proximity to us and the relatively strong gravitational effect it has on the earth that causes the tides to follow the moon’s lunar schedule of 24 hours and 50 minutes per cycle. Due to the consistency of Atlantic Ocean tides, many boat owners will refer to a tide clock in order to monitor daily high and low tides.  

How Does a Time and Tide Clock Work?

While the lunar cycle is the primary force behind the workings of the tide, it is not the only force.  On a daily basis, the average tidal cycle of 24 hours and 50 minutes can be affected by such cosmic variables as the relative position of the earth to the sun and the specific elliptical pattern of the moon around the earth.  Localized variables affecting daily tides also exist. These include strong winds, changes in atmospheric pressure, distant storms, and an infinite number of other atmospheric conditions. The total effect of all these different factors causes tides to vary from their average of 24 hours and 50 minutes.  These variations can cause the reading of a tide clock to be either fast or slow in relation to actual tides, by as much as one hour or more on any given day. However, the rhythmic 24 hour and 50-minute cycle will prevail over any given 28-day lunar period.  

This means that on any given day a tide clock may read fast or slow, but over a 28-day period, it will average itself out to be correct.  For most purposes, high and/or low tide is not a point in time, but a condition that exists over a period of time. If for some reason you require exact tide information you should always refer to a current tide table.  The purpose of a tide clock is not to be exact, but to tell us the best approximate time to go swimming, fishing, boating, etc.

Do you have questions about how to select a time and tide clock? Reach out to us today and we’d be happy to assist you.

Learn more about what time and tide clocks are and how they work.

What Is a Tide Clock and How Does It Work?

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