Alexandria Governorate

Alexandria Governorate spans Egypt's Mediterranean coast from the eastern edge of the Nile delta at Abu Qir Bay west past the city of Alexandria to the long sandy stretch toward El Alamein and Marsa Matruh. This is microtidal Mediterranean coast. The astronomical tide signal across the eastern Mediterranean is small — mean range at Alexandria is roughly 25 to 30 cm, and even spring tides rarely push beyond 35 cm. What actually drives water level along this coast is wind and atmospheric pressure. Winter storms across the Mediterranean push surge tens of centimetres above the predicted level along the Alexandria Corniche and into the Eastern Harbour; the autumn and winter seasons regularly produce sea state and water levels that have nothing to do with the tide table and everything to do with the synoptic pressure pattern. The geography of the coast — the Eastern Harbour curving in front of the city centre, the Citadel of Qaitbay on the old Pharos peninsula, Stanley Bridge arching over the swimming bay east of Sidi Gaber, and the long Corniche promenade that runs from the harbour eastward — is shaped by wind-driven wave action far more than by tide. The Egyptian Hydrographic Department operates the gauge network along the Egyptian Mediterranean coast and publishes the authoritative sea-level and surge data. For any operation that depends on precise water level — port pilotage, fishing-boat scheduling at Anfoushi or Abu Qir, harbour swimming events at Stanley Beach — that is the source to consult. Predictions on this site come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model with timing accuracy of about plus or minus 45 minutes and height accuracy of roughly 0.2 to 0.3 metres. On a coast with mean range under 30 cm, the model's height uncertainty can equal or exceed the entire astronomical signal — useful for the rhythm of the day, not for the precise level.