Kuwait City 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 02:00 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/Kuwait local. Folk tradition, not a scientific forecast.

Next spring tide on Mon 18 May (range 4.1m). Next neap on Thu 14 May.

Spring tides cluster around new and full moons (biggest swings). Neap tides land on quarter moons (smallest swings). See the spring tide and neap tide glossary entries for the why.

Kuwait City occupies the south shore of Kuwait Bay, the large semi-enclosed embayment on Kuwait's northeast coast. The city is primarily a commercial and administrative capital — the Kuwait Towers, the Grand Mosque, and the Souk Al-Mubarakiya define its identity, not beaches. The waterfront on the bay-facing shore is a mix of corniche promenade, the old souk quarter near the Dhow Harbour, and port facilities. The Dhow Harbour at the north end of the Kuwait City corniche is the most evocative maritime remnant: traditional wooden dhows still built and maintained here, the fishing fleet operating alongside the wooden cargo dhows that have plied these waters for centuries. The tidal regime in the Arabian Gulf at Kuwait is mixed semidiurnal with strong diurnal inequality. Spring range at Kuwait City is 2.0–2.2 m; neap range narrows to 0.8–1.0 m. The Gulf is shallow — mean depth in Kuwait Bay is 5–8 m — and the semi-enclosed geometry amplifies the tidal range compared to the open Indian Ocean. Diurnal inequality is pronounced: on some days one high water or one low water per day dominates, with the secondary tide weak or nearly absent (diurnal day). On those days the bay behaves like a once-daily tidal system with a range close to 2.0 m. The combination of Kuwait Bay's semi-enclosed geometry and the shallow Gulf bathymetry makes surge a significant variable. A sustained southerly wind pushes Gulf water northward and stacks it against Kuwait's coast; surges of 0.5–1.0 m above predicted high water have been recorded during strong shamal (northwesterly) and southerly wind events. The bay's low topography and extensive intertidal flats mean that surge events can push water well inland over the reclaimed coastal areas near the Dhow Harbour. For the Dhow Harbour and fishing fleet, the tide's practical effect is felt most on spring low water. The harbour basin is in 2.0–3.0 m at mean water; at spring low water (approximately 0.0–0.2 m CD at Kuwait), the inner basin depth drops to 0.8–1.5 m — grounding risk for dhows drawing 1.2 m or more. Traditional wooden dhows at Kuwait are built to ground softly in the muddy harbour bottom; the practice of working on a boat grounded on the low tide is an established part of Gulf maritime tradition. Access to the harbour wall for photography is best at low spring water when the full hull lines of the grounded dhows are visible above the waterline. For fishing, Kuwait Bay's shallow tidal flats are productive for a distinctive Gulf fishery. Hamour (orange-spotted grouper) hold in the 3–6 m zone off the bay's edge at all tidal states but feed most actively on the ebb when the falling tide concentrates prey on the flat edges. Zobaidi (silver pomfret) school over the flats on the flood as temperature-stratified shallow water warms in the Gulf sun. The Shuwaikh fishing port, 3 km west of the Dhow Harbour, is the commercial fishing hub; the morning fish market there opens at 05:00 and is the best source of local intelligence on species and locations. For photography, the Kuwait Towers — three towers at the point of the corniche, the main one holding a revolving restaurant — are lit at night and best photographed from the bay at golden hour. The Dhow Harbour at low tide, with working wooden vessels grounded or being careened, is industrial in a traditional maritime sense. All tide predictions for Kuwait City come from the Open-Meteo Marine gridded model. Timing accuracy is ±45 minutes; height accuracy is ±0.3 m above Chart Datum. The Gulf's strong wind-surge response means wind forecasts from Kuwait Meteorological Department (met.gov.kw) should be checked alongside the tide prediction for any shore or small-boat activity.