Real-Time Monitoring Field Observations: February 1, 2026

Contributor: Katie Lavallee

Overview
King tides surrounding the full moon on February 1 in conjunction with an offshore storm resulted in overland flooding observed at Tenean Beach in Dorchester.

The Boston NOAA tide gauge reached a peak of 12.54 feet MLLW at 10am on February 1 which just exceeded the NWS ‘Minor Flooding’ threshold. It appears that the peak storm surge missed the peak high tide on February 1 by about 8 hours, potentially preventing worse coastal flooding. (See NOAA/NWS graph).

Storm surge during the February 1 10 am high tide was modeled at 1.4 ft, and increased to 2.1 ft by 10 pm on February 1. This 0.7 ft difference in surge could be significant to coastal communities.

Data from Tenean Beach Hohonu Overland Flood Sensor 

February 1, 10:00 am high tide: 4 hours of flooding, up to 1.1 ft above the snow.
February 2, 11:00 am high tide: 3 hours of flooding, up to 1.0 ft above the snow.
February 3, 12:00 pm high tide: 4 hours of flooding, up to 0.5 ft above the snow.

None of the other Hohonu overland flood sensors in the Stone Living Lab’s network recorded overland coastal flooding. All sensors are currently being impacted by the snow, and are reading false flood levels due to frozen snowpack underneath the sensor. If flooding occurred at any of the stations besides Tenean Beach, it did not exceed the height of the snowpack.

Data from Rainsford Island Meteorological Station 

Wind speeds of up to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph observed on February 1. The lowest recorded temperature of the week was 6.4 degrees F on the morning of Saturday January 31.

Data from Gallops Island Tide Station 

The 10 am February 1 high tide was 6.8 ft NAVD88 at Gallops Island station. If we use the Boston NOAA gauge datum (MLLW = -5.50 ft NAVD88), then the Gallops peak water level was 12.3 ft MLLW.

Data from Harbor Entrance Wave Buoy 

East swell from the storm moving up the east coast reached Boston Harbor on Sunday February 1. Waves increased from under 1 ft in height (short period 4s)  to over 4 ft through midday on February 2 (long period, increasing to 11s).