noaa-tidesandcurrents-mcp

Get High Tide Flooding Data

noaa_get_high_tide_flooding

Read-onlyIdempotent

Retrieve NOAA high tide flooding statistics for a station, including daily flood days, monthly/annual counts, outlooks, and projections to assess nuisance flooding trends.

Instructions

Get NOAA high tide flooding (HTF, "nuisance"/"sunny day" flooding) statistics for a station. Reports:

daily: flood occurrence per day (REQUIRES start_date and end_date, YYYYMMDD)
monthly / seasonal / annual: counts of minor/moderate/major flood days per period (filter with year/month/season_months, or range = last N periods)
met_year_annual: counts by meteorological year (May–April)
annual_outlook: NOAA's projected flood-day outlook for the coming met year
projections: decadal flood-day projections through 2100 (filter by decade, flood_threshold)
record_days: record flood-day counts
likely_scenarios: likely decadal flooding scenarios
daily_likelihoods: day-by-day flood likelihood forecasts

Use for: "how often does X flood?", trends in nuisance flooding, future flooding projections. Not all stations have HTF products — check the HTFhistorical flag via noaa_get_station_info.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`year`	No	Filter to a calendar year (monthly/seasonal/annual/record_days).
`month`	No	Filter to a month (monthly report).
`range`	No	Number of years to cover: with year (or met_year) set, returns year..year+range; without, returns the last N years.
`decade`	No	Decade for projections/likely_scenarios (e.g. 2050).
`report`	No	Which HTF report to retrieve (see tool description).	annual
`station`	Yes	Station ID. Water-level/met stations use 7-digit numeric IDs (e.g. "9414290" San Francisco); current stations use alphanumeric IDs (e.g. "cb0102"). Find stations with noaa_search_stations or noaa_find_nearest_stations.
`end_date`	No	YYYYMMDD — required for report "daily".
`met_year`	No	Meteorological year (met_year_annual / annual_outlook).
`start_date`	No	YYYYMMDD — required for report "daily".
`season_months`	No	Season for the seasonal report (Dec-Jan-Feb, Mar-Apr-May, ...).
`flood_threshold`	No	Flood severity threshold for projections/likely_scenarios.
`response_format`	No	Output format: "markdown" for a readable summary table, "json" for the complete structured payload.	markdown

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`_response`	Yes

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Addedv1.0.1Oct 5, 2026

TDQS

A4.6/5.0

Behavior4/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already cover the read-only/idempotent safety profile, and the description adds genuine operational context beyond them: the per-report filter requirements (daily REQUIRES start_date/end_date; year/month/season_months vs range semantics) and the station-availability caveat. It stops short of describing output shape, but output schema exists so that is acceptable.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Front-loaded with the core statement, then a scannable bulleted mapping of reports to filters, then a short 'Use for' block. It is long, but for a 10-mode report selector nearly every line carries distinct decision-relevant content; only minor redundancy in restating the daily date requirement.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a 12-parameter, multi-mode tool with an output schema, the description covers mode selection, per-mode required filters, and the station prerequisite. Nothing an agent needs to call it correctly is missing.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters4/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema coverage is 100% so baseline is 3, but the description adds real meaning by mapping each filter to the reports it applies to (year for monthly/seasonal/annual/record_days, decade and flood_threshold for projections/likely_scenarios, met_year for met_year_annual/annual_outlook). This goes beyond the per-parameter schema text.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

Names a specific verb and resource (NOAA high tide flooding statistics for a station) and enumerates the report modes, which is exactly what separates it from siblings like noaa_get_sea_level_rise_projections or noaa_get_tide_predictions. An agent can identify the tool's scope without opening the schema.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines5/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

Explicitly states when to use it ("how often does X flood?", nuisance-flood trends, future projections) and adds a concrete prerequisite: not all stations have HTF products, check the HTFhistorical flag via noaa_get_station_info. Both the use case and the routing to a sibling tool are given.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.