FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ Periodically throughout the year in South Florida, water from the sea invades our coast. It leaks out of bays, climbs over sea walls and docks, and floods out of sewer drains built to contain it.
For hours, it sits like an unwelcome guest _ swallowing up whole streets, parking lots, marinas and driveways. It creeps under the doors of unsuspecting homes and businesses and seeps in through the cracks of futile sandbags.
Then, like a thief in the night, it slips away.
The phenomena, known as king tide, occurs a handful of five- to seven-day periods each year. The worst of it happens between the end of the summer and Thanksgiving, when a stronger gravitational pull between the sun and moon creates higher than usual tides. Another round of king tides began Friday and will extend into Wednesday.
For the uninitiated, the water will seem random.
For scientists, researchers and climate change activists, it's a crystal ball of sorts: a brief, physical realization of South Florida's perilous future if nothing is done to combat rising seas and global temperatures.
But for South Floridians simply living their lives, the water _ which many acknowledge has increased in recent years _ is more like a temporary nuisance they know will eventually go away.
That was the sentiment earlier this month driving along on A1A in Hollywood. Near Franklin Street, king tide flooding created a pool of water that crept up to the wheels of cars. Some drivers, particularly those in sedans, made a U-turn rather than confront it.
Peter Ide, the owner of a charter fishing operation, leaned against a wooden post and watched, unfazed. "King tide," he said, and shrugged. "Some years are less, some years are more."
Ide has lived all his life in South Florida and said he remembers the flooding was particularly bad in 1969 _ years before people were talking about climate change.
"Everybody says it's a new phenomenon," he said. "I've seen this all my life."
Williams Sweet, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said king tides haven't changed. In fact, the rising and falling of tides is a process that has occurred for centuries. "What's changed is the sea level," Sweet said.
The sea level in South Florida has risen 5 inches in the last 25 years, according to Sweet. But incremental increases will lead to more flooding in the coming years that is deeper, wider and slower to recede, he said.
In short, what we're encountering these days in South Florida won't be a once-in-a-blue-moon thing. "That's going to become the new normal," Sweet said.
Ide, who conceded that the flooding earlier this month seemed bad relative to other years, remained unconvinced that things are getting worse. He views the amount of flooding year-to-year more like a roll of a dice.
To prove his point, Ide pulled up pictures of the same street in 2016. The water was so deep that he was able to paddle a small boat down the street. The water before him, consuming his gravel parking lot, was still too shallow to do that.
"People make a big deal out of it," Ide said. "But it's cyclical. It comes and it goes."
Brian McNoldy, a research associate at the University of Miami school of Marine and Atmospheric Science, said it's true, the height of king tides do vary year to year.
But there is a constant upward trend when you map out tide measurements back to 1994, the earliest recorded year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
When 2019 is over with, McNoldy suspects it will be one of the highest years. According to him, records were broken for the highest recorded tides in the months of March, July, August and September this year _ something that doesn't happen often.
Still, McNoldy hasn't noticed everyday citizens display much alarm. "Other places in the country or the world look at us and we're like the big story for them," he said, referring to the numerous magazine articles about how South Florida will be underwater soon.
Meanwhile, McNoldy said, South Floridians display a mix of resilience and indifference.
"We've just gotten used to it," he said.
