How high could king tides get in SLO County? See this week’s local weather forecast

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King tides returned to San Luis Obispo County this weekend, ushering in the year's highest and lowest water levels within a span of less than 12 hours.

These tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun, which creates a tidal "bulge," or an area of elevated sea level on the ocean's surface.

As the Earth rotates eastward, California passes into this bulge, resulting in a flood tide that culminates in a high tide. As the rotation continues, we enter regions of lower than normal sea level, called nodes, leading to an ebb tide and eventually low tide.

The slack tide occurs when the water is neither rising nor falling.

These tidal effects are not the total gravitational pull of the moon and sun, but rather the variation in gravitational forces across Earth's surface.

Ray Weymann, a retired director and chair of the astronomy department at the University of Arizona, explained this phenomenon.

High tides at Port San Luis were predicted to peak on Saturday at 9:16 a.m. at 6.8 feet, on Sunday at 9:58 a.m. at 6.7 feet and on Monday at 10:42 a.m. at 6.3 feet.

However, actual sea levels can differ significantly from predictions due to factors such as ocean swell, currents and warmer seawater temperatures that cause thermal expansion of the water column.

For instance, on Jan. 10, 2005, the verified sea level reached 7.7 feet — 0.7 feet higher than expected.

On Jan. 27, 1983, a predicted tide of 6.8 feet resulted in a record breaking 8-foot-tide, the highest ever recorded along the Central Coast.

If you visit the coastline to witness this nearly 7-foot-high tide, imagine the impact of an additional foot of water, as seen during the historic tide of Jan. 27, 1983.

This week, a robust 1,037-millibar Eastern Pacific High, located about 1,500 miles west of the Central Coast, will steer the storm track toward the Pacific Northwest.

This pattern will bring abundant precipitation to Northern California, Oregon and Washington through the end of November, while the Central Coast remains mostly dry.

After crossing the Northern Pacific and impacting the Pacific Northwest, the jet stream will sharply turn right over British Columbia and Washington state, then shift southward toward Southern California. This shift will bring a colder air mass to the Central Coast through Tuesday.

On Saturday and Sunday, moderate to fresh (13 to 24 mph) and at times gusty Santa Lucia (northeasterly/offshore) winds will develop overnight into the morning, shifting out of the northwest and increasing in the afternoon.

This condition will produce primarily clear skies with cold nights and cool afternoons.

The inland valleys (Paso Robles), coastal valleys (San Luis Obispo) and beaches will struggle to break into the 60s. Overnight lows will drop to the high 20s in the inland valleys.

The far inland valleys (California Valley) could drop to the low 20s by Sunday morning, while the coastal valleys and beaches will see low temperatures ranging between high 30s and low 40s.

A weak cold front will move through the Central Coast on Sunday night into Monday morning with increasing clouds and a slight chance of a few scattered rain showers.

Most areas will not receive any measurable rain.

The main impact of this system will be strong to gale-force (25 to 38 mph) north to northwesterly winds that will follow in its wake on Monday.

A pattern of moderate to fresh (13 to 24 mph) and at times gusty Santa Lucia (northeasterly/offshore) winds developing during the overnight and morning, shifting out of the northwest during afternoon will continue to produce clear skies on Tuesday through Saturday.

Temperatures will gradually warm on Wednesday through Saturday with most areas warming to the low 70s.

A weak cold front may bring scattered rain showers to our area on Sunday, Nov. 25.

Otherwise, mostly dry conditions are expected to persist into the first week of December, unless a blocking high develops in the Gulf of Alaska.

Surf report A 5- to 7-foot northwesterly (295-degree deep-water) sea and swell (with a 7- to 11- second period) is forecast along our coastline on Sunday, increasing to 8- to 10-feet (with a 7- to 17-second period) on Monday.

This northwesterly (295-degree deep-water) sea and swell will decrease to 6- to 8-feet (with a 7- to 15-second period) on Tuesday, and will remain at this level through Saturday.

Surface seawater temperatures will range between 53 and 55 degrees through Saturday.

On this date in weather history (Nov. 17)A tornado injured 31 people when it cut a 17-mile path across Alexandria and southeastern Washington D.C. The tornado struck the Naval Air Station, where a wind gust of 93 mph was recorded. A waterspout was seen over the Potomac River 90 minutes later. (David Ludlum).

After three straight days of record-breaking heat, the offshore winds substantially weakened — bringing cooler temperatures into the coast similar to those seen today.

Rocky Butte near San Simeon recorded 2.01 inches of rain, while Tim's Home on top of the Irish Hills reported 1.80 inches of rain. The Davis Peak weather station in the Irish Hills recorded 1.14 inches of precipitation.

This week's temperatures