Shanghai tide times

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived.

Model-derived from a global ocean grid. Useful indication; expect about ±45 minutes on average vs. a local harmonic gauge, individual stations vary widely. See /methodology for per-region detail. Not for navigation.

Conditions as of 16:00 local time. Refreshes daily.

Predictions: Open-Meteo Marine (MeteoFrance SMOC, 0.08° grid) — heights relative to MSL (not chart datum / LAT). Model-derived. · Not for navigation.

The angler tradition for major/minor fishing windows: major ≈3-hour windows around moon transit and opposition; minor ≈2-hour windows around moonrise and moonset. Times are Asia/Shanghai local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Shanghai sits at the mouth of the Yangtze River delta where the Wusong River meets the tidal flat that became one of the world's great port cities. The Bund stretches along the Huangpu River in Puxi, its colonial-era banking facades facing the Pudong skyline across the water — that three-hundred-metre gap is a tidal channel, and the water in it moves. The Huangpu is not a simple river at this point: it is a tidal estuary, reversing direction twice a day as the flood tide pushes upstream and the ebb draws it back toward Wusong and the Yangtze channel. The tide signature at Shanghai is semidiurnal, two highs and two lows each day, with a mean range at the Wusong gauge of about 2.0 to 2.5 metres at the river mouth. Spring tides around new and full moons push toward 3.0 metres and the change of tide in the Huangpu is visible as a current reversal along the Bund embankment. Neap tides during quarter moons compress the range and slow the estuarine exchange, which matters for the industrial port logistics and the Yangtze delta shipping traffic. The Wusong gauge at the confluence of the Wusong River and the Huangpu is the primary reference point for the Shanghai tidal system — operated by the China Maritime Safety Administration and the National Marine Data and Information Service (NMDIS), it publishes the authoritative tide tables for the port. Pudong waterfront, the Yangpu Bridge to the north, and the Century Avenue ferry crossing all sit on or over tidal water where the current and height vary predictably through the cycle. For photographers working the Bund at dawn, the light from Pudong reflects best on the rising flood before the commuter traffic builds on the river; for paddlers launching from the inner harbour, the ebb from about two hours after high water runs the Huangpu toward Wusong at close to two knots and is the window to move downriver without fighting the current. The Yangtze ferry crossings to Chongming Island operate on a fixed schedule but speed over ground changes materially between flood and ebb — full-throttle against the ebb covers the same transit in noticeably more time. Shore anglers along the Huangpu embankment work the change-of-tide window when the current slacks before reversing; the murky estuary water is no cleaner than any large working river, but carp, catfish, and silver carp work the Huangpu up to the inner city reach. The predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model. Gridded models estimate tidal height across a geographic grid rather than computing from decades of measured harmonic data at a single gauge. Accuracy is typically within plus or minus 45 minutes on timing and within roughly 0.5 metres on height, depending on bathymetry and model resolution. For commercial shipping, ferry scheduling, or any safety-critical use, the China Maritime Safety Administration and NMDIS are the authoritative sources — not this page.