01:05 The Science Behind King Tides Mike explains what exactly a King Tide is. Aired Monday, October 17, 2016.

At a Glance A king tide will affect Florida and other parts of the U.S. coast into early November.

King tide events can lead to impassable roads and other types of nuisance flooding.

Through early next week, a so-called king tide event will affect Florida, potentially causing flooding that may result in impassable roads and the inundation of other low-lying areas.

The king tide occurs multiple times annually and features the highest high tides of the year.

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/king-tide.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/king-tide.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/king-tide.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > The alignment of the earth, sun and moon during the king tide. Credit: NOAA

"Twice a year when the earth, sun, and moon line up, when the moon and the sun are at perigee and perihelion, we generally experience the greatest tidal ranges of the year. These resulting tides have informally been dubbed king tides," says the North Carolina King Tides Project .

<img class="styles__noscript__2rw2y" src="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/ap_16290594412060_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0" srcset="https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/ap_16290594412060_0.jpg?v=at&w=485&h=273&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 400w, https://dsx.weather.com//util/image/w/ap_16290594412060_0.jpg?v=ap&w=980&h=551&api=7db9fe61-7414-47b5-9871-e17d87b8b6a0 800w" > Flooded streets in the Las Olas Isles area of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Hibiscus Place, during a king tide on Oct. 16, 2016. (Joe Cavaretta/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

The perigee and perihelion are the points in the elliptical orbits of the moon and sun when they are closest to earth, respectively.

Last October, a king tide in southeast Florida contributed to a number of flooded roadways. National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew Hagen told the Sun Sentinel that locations which have experienced king tide flooding in the last few years could be affected again during the next week.

Potentially compounding this particular king tide event in southeast Florida is a persistent onshore easterly wind flow and the potential for locally heavy rain this week. Those factors may not allow water from the king tide to drain quickly.

The National Weather Service added that debris leftover from Hurricane Irma could add to the slow water draining woes .

Several other king tide events will occur in Florida and other parts of the U.S. coastline into early November. The graphic below shows the periods of very high tides expected at Virginia Key, Florida, during the course of the next month.

King tide events result in what NOAA calls nuisance flooding, which includes road closures and overwhelmed storm drains . Nuisance flooding has increased 300-925 percent on the U.S. Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf Coasts since the 1960s.

When a king tide occurs in tandem with coastal flooding from a large-scale weather system such as nor'easter, the floodwater inundation can be much more significant.

"King tides give us a preview of the future, because the highest tides of today will be the average water levels of the future as seas continue to rise," NOAA says .

Crowdsourcing is being used to map king tide events when they occur in the U.S. and other parts of the world.

For example, a mapping event dubbed "Catch the King" in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia is being used to measure the flooding that occurs there during the peak of the king tide on Nov. 5.