These outer banks tide charts by location cover every beach from Corolla in the north to Ocracoke in the south — pick the station closest to where you are fishing, driving, surfing, or boating.
Pick the tide station closest to where you fish, surf, drive, or boat on the North Carolina Outer Banks. Each page shows an interactive multi-day tide chart, today’s next high and low tides, and location-specific notes. Stations are listed from north to south.
What is a tide chart?
A tide chart is a listing of the predicted times and heights of high and low water for one specific place — here, calculated by NOAA from decades of gauge readings and published as a curve you can read at a glance. The same thing goes by a lot of names: a tide table or tide schedule when it is laid out as rows of times, a tide calendar when it covers a month at a time, tide times, tide predictions or a tide forecast in NOAA’s own language, and casually a tide report, tide book (the old paper pamphlet), or high tide and low tide times. Old-timers may keep a tide clock on the wall — a 12-hour-25-minute dial that tracks the average rhythm rather than the real prediction. Whatever you call it, every location page on this site is the same tool: today’s and tomorrow’s exact times in a table, plus an interactive chart of the full curve. One distinction worth knowing: NOAA’s tide and current tables are two different products — the tide is the water’s height, the current is its horizontal flow, and in our inlets they do not turn at the same moment (see tide vs. current — and for the inlets themselves, our inlet current tables).
Northern Beaches (Corolla to Nags Head)
- Corolla tide chart
- Carova tide chart
- Duck tide chart
- Kitty Hawk tide chart
- Kill Devil Hills tide chart
- Nags Head tide chart
- Coquina Beach tide chart
Hatteras Island (Oregon Inlet to Hatteras)
- Oregon Inlet tide chart
- Pea Island tide chart
- Rodanthe tide chart
- Salvo tide chart (Rodanthe–Waves–Salvo)
- Avon tide chart
- Buxton tide chart
- Frisco tide chart
- Hatteras tide chart
- Hatteras Inlet tide chart
Ocracoke Island
How to Pick the Right OBX Tide Station
The Outer Banks stretches more than 100 miles from Corolla in the north to Ocracoke in the south, and tidal timing varies significantly along that distance. A high tide at Duck can arrive 30–45 minutes before the same tide at Hatteras. For accurate planning, always use the gauge closest to where you are fishing, driving, or boating.
Northern OBX Tide Stations
The northern Outer Banks — from Corolla through Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head — uses the NOAA Duck gauge (8651370) as its primary reference. Duck is the official NOAA tide station for the northern OBX oceanfront. Corolla, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills are sub-stations calibrated from Duck with small time offsets. Nags Head runs about 10 minutes behind Duck on the oceanfront.
Central OBX Tide Stations
Oregon Inlet is the most current-driven gauge on the Outer Banks. Tides here are influenced heavily by the inlet geometry — the channel constricts and accelerates tidal flow, making accurate tide prediction especially important for boaters. Coquina Beach on Bodie Island uses Oregon Inlet as its reference station. Rodanthe, at the top of Hatteras Island, is the transition zone between the northern and southern OBX tidal regimes.
Southern OBX Tide Stations
Avon, Buxton, and Cape Point fall under the NOAA Hatteras gauge (8654467) at USCG Station Hatteras. Tidal range here is the smallest on the oceanfront OBX — about 1.6 feet mean range — because the Outer Banks curves westward near Cape Hatteras, partially sheltering the shoreline. Frisco and Hatteras Village use this same gauge. Ocracoke has its own NOAA station (8654792) at Silver Lake Harbor, with a mean range of about 1.3 feet.
Sound-Side Tides
Tide gauges on the ocean side do not apply to sound-side locations. Pamlico Sound, Roanoke Sound, and Currituck Sound are meteorologically driven — wind is the dominant force, not the moon. A sustained northeaster can blow water out of the sound for days, while a southwest wind piles water against the barrier island. If you are kayaking, kiteboarding, or launching a boat from a sound-side ramp, check the wind forecast as carefully as the tide chart.
Tips for Reading Your OBX Tide Chart
Each location page on this site shows a 3-day interactive tide curve, the next predicted high and low tide, and the mean tidal range for that station. The curve shape tells you as much as the specific times — a steep curve means the tide will rise or fall quickly (important for beach driving windows), while a flatter curve indicates a slower transition. On semi-diurnal days when the two highs or two lows are unequal in height, the higher high tide is the one that most affects beach access and inlet navigation. All times shown are Eastern Time, observing daylight saving.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most accurate OBX tide gauge? The NOAA Duck gauge (8651370) is the primary reference station for the northern Outer Banks and the most-cited benchmark for OBX tide predictions. For southern Hatteras Island, the NOAA Hatteras gauge (8654467) is the authoritative source.
How far in advance are OBX tide predictions accurate? Astronomical tide predictions are calculated years in advance using harmonic constants and are highly accurate for predicted water levels under normal weather conditions. However, wind, storm surge, and barometric pressure can shift actual water levels by 1–2 feet from the predicted values, especially on the sound side and near active inlets.