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In January 2026, massive flooding occurred in Marin County due to severe king tides, high tides that typically happen in the winter months. King tides occur when the sun, moon, and Earth all align, causing a stronger gravitational pull. Although king tides are a naturally occurring phenomenon, one of the main factors that caused the flooding to be so bad was rising sea levels due to climate change.
According to KQED reporter Ezra David Romero, “County officials told KQED … that hundreds of structures were impacted by the flooding brought on by stronger- than-expected rainfall and king tides… [They] are foreshadowing the future in our warming climate. The high tides of today will become the daily tides of the future.”
This year, San Francisco weather gauges measured the king tides at two and a half feet above ground level, higher than they have been in the past 28 years. According to NBC News, sea levels have been rising almost two millimeters per year for the past few years. Some experts believe that floods like these will become as common as forest fires; according to the Environmental Market Solution Lab at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the amount of acres burned by forest fires increased by 4,000,000 in the past two decades. Many people are worried about how people will adapt if floods become more common in communities that are located on or near water.
Advanced Placement Environmental Science teacher Melissa Havel went to Sausalito to observe how the floods were affecting the area in early January.
“I got stuck [on my way home] for three hours because 101 was shut down… and to me that’s an even bigger problem [because]… we’re talking about a major freeway through Marin County,” Havel said.
The flooding makes commuting to school difficult and time consuming for people who live in certain parts of Marin, such as Larkspur. During the flooding, Redwood High School sophomore Sam Riley found that although the flood had cleared before school started, many streets, as well as the school parking lot were all flooded, causing difficulties in commuting through the area.
“It had flooded the parking lots and other parts of the school… along with a few roads in my neighborhood, heavily restricting transportation,” Riley said.
The chances of severe floods due to rising sea levels may become higher and may affect other parts of Marin in the future. The floods that happened in January should be expected in the years to come.
