The Napanee River has a Tide!

Napanee residents are used to seeing driftwood floating down the Napanee River, then having it return upstream a couple hours later. You can note that the rocks and stones uncovered by water along the Boardwalk would be wet.  Upon return a couple of hours later you would find them submerged.  The river will actually rise between 6 to 16 inches.

So, what is the reason for this strange phenomenon? Apparently, winds across Lake Ontario from predominantly the southwest push the lake water to the north shore. When the wind eases, the water surges back to where it came from.  The surge repeats itself again and again and the sloshing of the water back and forth is called the "seiche" effect and can go on for several days. The key to this tidal effect is the wind and the water sloshing from the lake into the river. If the river was any longer or shorter it wouldn’t work. It’s a case of many factors working together to create, in effect, a regular tide in the Napanee River.