July 3rd 2019 Bonfire Tides

Cranberry County Magazine urges you to follow any and all laws and permitting processes regarding celebratory July 3rd bonfires.

However, we also have a responsibility to inform you of the tides for that day, just in case.

Building a bonfire requires more than just setting fire to a stack of wood. You have to time it properly, while working with a Mother Nature who cares not for human affairs.

You also have to at least try to have the fire early enough for little children to see it, while allowing enough time that the party doesn't end at 8:15 PM.

Sometimes, nature cooperates. Other times, she doesn't. Duxbury Beach had a 4 PM high tide on July 3rd last year. That is as good as it gets for bonfires. The tide had dropped enough for construction by 7 PM, the fire was lit at dark and the incoming high tide didn't extinguish the fire until Closing Time... in Chicago.

This year? Not as good, but not crushing.

High tide for Brant Rock is at 12:12 PM on July 3rd. Low tide on July 3rd is 6:08 PM. There is what they call a Slack at low tide, where no tidal stressors are influencing the water. Then, the tide starts to come in. High tide on July 4th is at 12:21 AM.

Note that there will be a New Moon in effect on the 3rd and 4th. There will be a 10.4 foot high tide on July 4th when the midnight tide arrives. It will most likely reach the seawall, and will have drowned the fires long before then.

Another timing issue with bonfires is how played out they are by the time the tide reaches them. Ideally, the tide hits a fire that is nothing but embers. You get a charcoal high tide line drawn on beaches south of the fires (South Shore coastal currents basically run north/south) for a few days.

If the tide hits the fire too soon, you end up with charred wood littering the beach for a generation. If said piece of wood is of bonfire-height length, it can lodge into the sand at a boat-sinking angle.

Tidal information is important for any beach activities, not just pyromania. That's why you may be seeing this even if your town doesn't do bonfires. People also sunbathe, drink, picnic, cook out...

Anyhow, we'll hit you up with some July 3rd /4th tide information. Do with it as you will.

Duxbury Bay: 12:53 AM, 12.0 feet

Scituate: 12:39 AM July 4, 10.8 feet

Hull: 12:44 AM, 11.3 feet

Weymouth Back River, 12:42 AM, 11.5 ft

Cohasset: 12.41 AM, 10.71

Plymouth, 12:49 AM, 11.8 ft

Westport Harbor, 9:22PM 7/3, 3.9

New Bedford, 9:20 PM 7/3, 4.9

Mattapoisett: 9:33 PM 7/3, 4.46

Marion: 9:25 PM 7/3, 6.0

Sandwich (Canal East): 12:38 AM, 10.6 ft

Barnstable: 12:48 AM, 11.6

Falmouth Heights: 12:21 AM, 1.6

Poponesset: 2:40 AM, 2.79

Sesuit Harbor: 12:39 AM, 11.87

Wychmere: 1:29 AM, 4.54

Chatham Harbor, 1:45 AM, 5.59

Nauset Outer Beaches: 1:15 AM, 5.59

Wellfleet Cape Cod Bay: 12.51 AM, 12.22

Provincetown CC Bay: 12:52, 11.06