What's With the Tides?

[rplalor]

Last weekend (October 28) the tides at the mouth of the Chesapeake were really extraordinarily high and low; there was no nearby storm activity or exceptional wind to explain the anomaly. A friend with a house in England on the North Sea told me the same was true there for the same weekend. The moon was in its first quarter, so one would not normally expect a very large tidal range.

What was happening in the heavens that weekend that so affected the tides in the North Atlantic basin? (No need for a primer on amphidromal points, etc., I have some familiarity with basic tidal mechanics.)

Please respond to rplalor@aol.com as well as the forum, and thanks very much in advance!!!

[Epsilon=One]

Last weekend (October 28) the tides at the mouth of the Chesapeake were really extraordinarily high and low...What was happening in the heavens that weekend that so affected the tides in the North Atlantic basin? (No need for a primer on amphidromal points, etc., I have some familiarity with basic tidal mechanics.)Apparently, you have ruled out resonance effects, which because of the distances involved, I would agree.

I'm not familiar with the moon's orbit relative to the Earth on October 28th; however, your description of "extraordinarily high and low" would make me guess the elliptical orbit was either at its apogee or perigee (depending on when and where the high tide) relative to your observation.

Your knowledge of "amphidromal points, etc." leads me to think you can locate the orbital detail faster than I; and also, makes me wonder: Why you didn't think of orbital distances before resonance? Am I missing something?