Big Moon, Low Tide

I was hoping to see the moon up close last night. Well, a bit closer - it would still be 350,000 km away but that was 30,000 km less than normal as it approaches its perigee (closest point on its orbit).

But at 14% bigger and 30% larger the full moon would have been pretty spectacular. However, unsurprising, the weather here got in the way with a cloudy night followed by a wet and miserable morning.

However still went "wow" went looked out of the windows, as have never seen such low a tide. In the picture below of the entrance of the Wandle River there was temporarily a new island in the Thames, a gravel bank (red arrow) that usually is just an invisible navigational hazard which showed its head for a short while.

This isn't just a closer moon bringing both higher and lower tides, as the live tide gauges was reporting levels over a metre below prediction, so the grizzly weather was depressing water levels even further.