Leith (Edinburgh), Scotland tide times

The hero block shows the next high tide at Leith in local UK time (GMT in winter, BST in summer). The 7-day table covers all the highs and lows. High water at Stirling at the head of the firth lags Leith by about an hour; at the firth mouth near North Berwick it leads by about half an hour.

Mean range at Leith is about 3.6 metres, climbing past 4.6 metres on spring tides around new and full moons and dropping near 2.0 metres on neaps. The pattern is cleanly semidiurnal — two highs and two lows of comparable size each day, twelve and a half hours apart. The Firth of Forth amplifies the open North Sea signal as it propagates west into the narrowing inner firth.

Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model. Useful for daily planning around the Forth and the eastern Scottish coast. For authoritative British tide data, the UK Hydrographic Office's Admiralty TotalTide product is the navigation-grade reference, and the National Tide and Sea Level Facility operates the Leith gauge as part of the Class A network.

The Firth of Forth narrows progressively from its mouth at the open North Sea to its head at Stirling, and that funnel geometry amplifies the propagating tide. Open-coast forcing arrives at the firth mouth at North Berwick, propagates west under the bridges, and grows in height while the timing lags behind the open coast. High water at Stirling lags Leith by about an hour and the swing is slightly larger.

No. For piloting in or out of Leith Docks, transiting the Forth bridges, or working the open Scottish east coast use UKHO Admiralty charts and TotalTide predictions, Forth Ports' pilotage guidance, and the Aberdeen Coastguard's notices to mariners. Currents at the Forth Bridge narrows are working-hazardous on the change of tide; North Sea storm surge in winter can override the harmonic signal.