page_title: Acqua alta
section_title: Exceptional high waters since 1923
hierarchical_section_title: Acqua alta / Statistics / Historical records / Exceptional high waters since 1923
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: segni storici di Livello marea su Ca' Farsetti (Municipio) English: Historical inscription marks of floods on the wall of Ca' Farsetti (Venice's City Hall)
context_page_description: Acqua alta is the term used in Veneto for the exceptional tide peaks that occur periodically in the northern Adriatic Sea.
  The peaks reach their maximum in the Venetian Lagoon, where they cause partial flooding of Venice and Chioggia; flooding also occurs elsewhere around the northern Adriatic, for instance at Grado and Trieste, but much less often and to a lesser degree.
  The phenomenon occurs mainly between autumn and spring, when the astronomical tides are reinforced by the prevailing seasonal winds that hamper the usual reflux.
  The main winds involved are the sirocco, which blows northbound along the Adriatic Sea, and the bora, which has a specific local effect due to the shape and location of the Venetian lagoon.
context_section_description: According to the records of the Tide Monitoring and Forecast Centre of Venice, these are the maximal documented levels (in decreasing, not chronological, order):
  194 cm on November 4, 1966
  187 cm on November 12, 2019
  166 cm on December 22, 1979
  158 cm on February 1, 1986
  156 cm on October 29, 2018
  156 cm on December 1, 2008
  154 cm on November 15, 2019
  152 cm on November 17, 2019
  151 cm on November 12, 1951
  150 cm on November 18, 2019
  149 cm on November 11, 2012
  147 cm on April 16, 1936
  147 cm on November 16, 2002
  145 cm on December 25, 2009
  145 cm on October 15, 1960
  144 cm on November 13, 2019
  144 cm on December 23, 2009
  144 cm on November 3, 1968
  144 cm on November 6, 2000
  143 cm on February 12, 2013
  143 cm on November 1, 2012
  142 cm on December 8, 1992
  140 cm on February 17, 1979
  Maximum high tide level: 1.94 m  recorded on November 4, 1966
  Minimum ebb tide level: −1.21 m, recorded on February 14, 1934
  Maximum difference between a high tide and the following ebb tide: 1.63 m, recorded on January 28, 1948, and on December 28, 1970
  Maximum difference between an ebb tide and the following high tide: 1.46 m, recorded on February 23 and 24, 1928, as well as on January 25, 1966
caption: The levels reached by high waters, engraved on the walls of Ca' Farsetti, Venice's City Hall.
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