Southwold tide times

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.

Model-derived from a global ocean grid. Useful indication; expect about ±45 minutes on average vs. a local harmonic gauge, individual stations vary widely. See /methodology for per-region detail. Not for navigation.

Conditions as of 05:00 local time. Refreshes daily.

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived. · Not for navigation.

The angler tradition for major/minor fishing windows: major ≈3-hour windows around moon transit and opposition; minor ≈2-hour windows around moonrise and moonset. Times are Europe/London local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Thu 21 May (range 2.2m / 7.1ft). Next neap on Tue 19 May.

Spring tides cluster around new and full moons (biggest swings). Neap tides land on quarter moons (smallest swings). See the spring tide and neap tide glossary entries for the why.

Southwold sits on a low promontory between the North Sea and the Blyth River estuary, seven kilometres north of Dunwich and 30 kilometres south of Lowestoft. The tidal regime is semidiurnal with a mean spring range of approximately 2.3 m above Chart Datum — classified as mesotidal, modest by North Sea standards. Low water at the beach face typically exposes 80 to 120 metres of firm sand; the harbour entrance on the Blyth sees a stronger tidal current as the estuary drains through a narrow channel. The lighthouse stands on the High Street 36 metres above sea level — one of the few coastal lighthouses in England that sits inside a town centre rather than on a headland. Built in 1890 and still operational, it provides a bearing for vessels transiting the southern North Sea. The beach due east of the lighthouse is a working orientation point for anglers timing their wade to the sandbanks. Sea anglers rate Southwold highly for bass and cod. Bass come in with the flood tide along the shingle runnels south of the pier from April through October, with the best runs at dusk and dawn in the first two hours of the flood. Cod show from late October through January; the beach to the north of the pier casts into deeper water at high tide. The pier itself — rebuilt and extended to 260 metres in 2001 — fishes well for pouting and the occasional thornback ray. Night fishing on spring tides in winter produces the most consistent cod catches. The beach huts lining the front are among the most photographed in England: rows of pastel-painted timber cabins on the shingle berm. They let seasonally and have waiting lists years long. The beach is sandy-shingle in character, with firm sand exposed at low water and shingle banks higher up. Bathing conditions are generally safe but the rip near the pier's north side warrants caution at mid-tide on a flooding spring. Harbour activity centres on the Blyth mouth. The ferry — a small rowing boat, manually hauled on a chain — crosses to Walberswick at the southern bank. It operates on daytime tide windows; a half-hour before low water the channel shallows to under a metre. Southwold Harbour has a small fleet of crab and lobster vessels; the day's catch is sold from the smoke sheds on the harbour bank, typically in the late morning after the boats return. Adnams Brewery has brewed in Southwold since 1872; the brewery dominates the town's economy and its beer delivery drays still cross the market square. The Salt and Anchor pubs on the seafront function as informal debrief venues for anglers, paddlers, and surfers who've been in the water. SUP and kayak paddling from the beach is practical from mid-flood to mid-ebb — the window when current in the Blyth channel is manageable. Launching into the surf at the beach face is straightforward at low water when the shore break is negligible. Crossing the harbour entrance requires care: the tidal flow in the channel runs to 2.5 knots on a spring ebb and the channel carries commercial traffic. Tide predictions here come from Open-Meteo Marine (global gridded model, accuracy ±45 min / ±0.2–0.3 m above Chart Datum), cross-referenced with the EA Flood Monitoring network and the NTSLF Lowestoft gauge, approximately 30 km to the north. For authoritative predictions, the UK Hydrographic Office EasyTide service and Admiralty Tide Tables (Volume 1, NP201) are the definitive references.