Mode · Currents

Cook Inlet current view

Cook Inlet has some of the strongest tidal currents in the world. This mode is designed to eventually show a simple SLACK / INCOMING / OUTGOING story with arrows on the map, tailored for set-netters, charter captains, kayak anglers, and photographers.

Example

SLACK

Next at upper inlet (concept)

Flood

INCOMING

Middle inlet reach

Ebb

OUTGOING

Lower inlet reach

Risk zones

High standing-wave spots to flag

Concept: simple traffic-light currents

The core of this mode is clarity, not raw numbers. Instead of forcing you to read complex current tables, Cook Inlet is divided into a handful of key reaches, each labeled with one of three states: SLACK, INCOMING, or OUTGOING.

SLACK — current near zero; best for small craft crossings and slow drifts.
INCOMING — flood toward Anchorage; often piles up waves against wind and bottom.
OUTGOING — ebb toward the Gulf; can create strong standing waves, especially with north wind.

v1 is intentionally descriptive only; a future iteration will wire NOAA current stations and arrows on a focused map.

Where this data will come from

NOAA current stations

CO-OPS currents

Slack · max flood · max ebb

Primary source for magnitudes (knots) and timing; mapped against tide stations already in AlaskaTides.

Cook Inlet reaches

Named segments

Upper · Middle · Lower

Human-friendly zones that group multiple current stations into a single “traffic light” summary.