acqua alta
 

I arrive in Venice the 27th of December.It seems the tides are still high. I checked the weather the next 10 days and It looks like a great week. Does the good weather bring lower tides?What are my chances the water will be lower?

There has been a lot of discussion about this just now in other threads on this board. With good weather your chances are improved of not having any or only little flooding. The contributing factors are tides, rain, and wind. Eliminate two out of three and things are looking up.

I guess you've missed the numerous threads on this topic over the past couple of weeks.

Acqua Alta is caused by several factors occurring at the same time: rain, wind and lunar high tides. Lunar tides are their highest at the new and full moon phases. You'll see on this link that the next new moon will be on Dec. 27th at about noon.

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.php

I understand all the factors you all mentioned and thanks.What I don't understand is does this water come in for several hours and then leave? The flooding recently seems worse than what is usual. On a December 15 news photgraph it looked like about 18" of water at the Rialto Bridge. This would coincide with bad weather, the full moon,but would all that water subside until the next high tide or does it just stay?

<i><font color=blue>What I don't understand is does this water come in for several hours and then leave?</font></i>

Like any tidal activity, it comes and goes. If high tide existed for days, no one would live in Venice. The difficulty of dealing with the hours of inconvenience is hard enough for shopkeepers to endure.

November seems to be the most difficult month for near record breakers. You may see some flooding at the end of December but, then again, you may not.

When it floods, Venice still remains a fascinating city to visit. Some might say even more fascinating. But if you are new to the city, getting around can be more challenging when the tide is high. Make sure you have a great map.

Any visit to Venice is always an adventure. I prefer an acqua alta to a snake bite in Africa. Pick your adventure and go with the flow. Every pun intended. :-)

Thanks for the clarification. I think the extreme tidal surge of December 1st made it all seem worse than what it is. We are bringing boots and if the good weather of the 19th thru the 25th will last a little longer our trip will be further enhanced. We live in New Orleans which may explain our fear of floods.

Ironandsilk, here are some websites you might want to review before you go.

About acqua alta:

http://www.visit-venice-italy.com/ac...nice-italy.htm

A map of wooden walkways set up during acqua alta:

http://www2.comune.venezia.it/maree/en_viabilita.asp

An interactive site that plots the most direct route between points in Venice. It's in Italian, but &quot;partenza&quot; is departure point, &quot;arrivo&quot; is where you want to go, and &quot;calcolo percorso&quot; starts the search.

http://gisportal.insula.it/moduli/percorsi/

&lt;&lt; What I don't understand is does this water come in for several hours and then leave? &gt;&gt;

This is confusing because your frame of reference is terra firma - - where water (from the tides) comes &quot;in&quot;.

In Venice, the water comes &quot;up&quot; from under the &quot;streets&quot; (sidewalks and piazzas) - - because Venice is a colander sitting on a basin of water. The water rises, and then it drains right back down again.

Best wishes,

Rex

Rex, great description. You can watch the water coming up through the drains, and later notice the water has reversed and gone back down the drains.