Burntcoat Head Webcam – World’s Highest Tides

The Burntcoat Head Webcam looks out over the Minas Basin shoreline in Nova Scotia, at the place that holds the world record for the highest tides on Earth. The camera sits at Burntcoat Head Park in the community of Noel and looks out from the headland, with a wooded red sandstone bluff on one side and the open basin beyond, across a stretch of coast that changes completely twice a day. At high water the basin fills the frame as a wide brown sheet of sea. Six hours later the same view shows an expanse of red sea floor, rock ledges and tidal pools that people walk across. The gap between those two pictures is the largest on Earth, and very little in frame stays fixed for long.

About Burntcoat Head

Burntcoat Head sits in Cobequid Bay, at the eastern end of the Bay of Fundy, inside the inlet known as the Minas Basin. The park lies on Route 215 along the Glooscap Trail, roughly an hour from Halifax and 50 minutes from both Truro and Windsor. The Guinness Book of World Records listed the site in its 1975 edition as having the greatest mean spring range in the world at 14.5 meters (47.5 feet), with an extreme range of 16.3 meters (53.6 feet). The largest tide ever measured here came with the Saxby Gale of 1869 and reached 21.6 meters (70.9 feet).

The lighthouse standing at the park, just back from the camera, is the third structure to occupy this headland, and a replica rather than a working light. The first was built in 1858 and burned five oil lamps behind reflectors. It stood on ground that erosion cut off from the mainland, turning it into an island and eventually taking the building with it. A replacement went up on the mainland in 1913 with a tower of 23 meters (76 feet), was converted from gas to electric light in 1950, and burned down in 1972. The replica that stands there today dates from 1994.

Nova Scotia Webcams, which runs the Burntcoat Head Webcam, puts the volume moving in and out of the basin at more than 100 billion tonnes per tidal cycle. The floor that appears at low water is not a sand beach but a rough, slippery surface of mud, rock and sandstone.

Weather and Climate in Burntcoat Head

This shore has a humid continental climate, with warm wet summers and cold snowy winters. At Truro, 50 minutes away at the head of Cobequid Bay and the nearest town with a long weather record, July averages a high of 24 C (75 F) and a low of 13 C (55 F). Those are the months when the camera most often catches people out on the flats, and when the light holds late into the evening. October cools to an average high of 13 C (56 F) and a low of 3 C (37 F), and the woods behind the shoreline turn color before the park closes.

Winter is the quiet half of the year. January averages a high of minus 1 C (29 F) and a low of minus 12 C (10 F), and the region takes around 215 centimeters (85 inches) of snow annually, with January the heaviest month at roughly 55 centimeters (22 inches). The tide keeps running through all of it, so a winter view on the Burntcoat Head Webcam can show ice pushed up the shore at high water and a frozen crust across the flats at low water. Spring arrives late: April still averages a high of 9 C (48 F) and an overnight low near freezing at minus 1 C (31 F).

Things to Do Near Burntcoat Head

Burntcoat Head Park is the main reason to make the drive, and admission is free. From the parking lot it is a three to four minute walk down to the ocean floor, and the park runs guided tours of the flats on selected days between May and October. The replica lighthouse can be climbed to the top and holds a gift shop. The season runs from mid May to mid October, with the lighthouse and washrooms open 9am to 5pm until October 15 and the grounds open dawn to dusk. The safe window falls inside the six hours between tides, so reading a tide table before setting out matters more here than at most coastal parks.

The same tides drive the best known trip in the area. On the Shubenacadie River, about 45 minutes from Halifax, the incoming Fundy tide pushes upstream hard enough to reverse the river’s flow, and guided operators run rafts into the standing waves it throws up. Most trips take three to five hours, and many finish with mudsliding down the red clay banks. In Truro, the Fundy Discovery Site interprets the same tidal system on dry land.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Burntcoat Head located?

Burntcoat Head is in the community of Noel, Nova Scotia, on Route 215 along the Glooscap Trail. It sits on Cobequid Bay at the eastern end of the Bay of Fundy, an hour from Halifax.

What can you see on the Burntcoat Head Webcam?

The camera looks out from the headland over the shore and the Minas Basin, with a spruce topped sandstone bluff to one side. At high water the sea covers the foreground; at low water the same ground is exposed red sea floor, rock ledges and pools, often with people walking on it.

How high are the tides at Burntcoat Head?

The mean spring range is 14.5 meters (47.5 feet), with an extreme range of 16.3 meters (53.6 feet). The highest tide on record came during the Saxby Gale of 1869 and reached 21.6 meters (70.9 feet).

Can you walk on the ocean floor at Burntcoat Head?

Yes, at low tide. A staircase with side and center railings leads from the park down to a viewing platform and the flats. The surface is slippery and uneven, and the safe window sits within the six hours between tides.

When is Burntcoat Head Park open?

The park operates seasonally from mid May to mid October. The lighthouse and washrooms open 9am to 5pm until October 15, and the grounds are open dawn to dusk.

Is the Burntcoat Head lighthouse the original one?

No. The 1858 original was lost after erosion turned its ground into an island, and its 1913 replacement burned in 1972. The tower standing today is a replica built in 1994.

What is the weather like at Burntcoat Head?

Humid continental. July averages 24 C (75 F) by day and January minus 1 C (29 F), with around 215 centimeters (85 inches) of snow a year.

What is there to do near Burntcoat Head?

Guided ocean floor tours run at the park between May and October. Tidal bore rafting on the Shubenacadie River uses the same incoming tide, and the Fundy Discovery Site in Truro covers the same system on dry land.

Source: Nova Scotia Webcams