Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.

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If you go to the beach in the near future, don't be surprised if the water seems a little high.

Tides along the East Coast have been running 6 inches to 2 feet above normal in recent weeks.

Scott Harper wrote about that in a recent article in The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk.

One scientist Harper interviewed, John Boon of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, pointed to the possibility that the Atlantic Ocean is entering a new phase of wind and water currents that could produce similar tides for about the next decade.

"There's no scientific debate that these anomalous cycles happen," Boon told the newspaper. "It's what causes them that's debated."

Scientists are closely monitoring the high tides, which are unusual in the breadth of coast they have affected, essentially the entire Eastern Seaboard.

The scientists interviewed by Harper emphasize that these tides are not believed to be related to the observed rising sea levels on the world's oceans, as the phenomenon has developed suddenly rather than gradually.

To read more about the unusual tides, go online to Harper's article at tinyurl.com/mh3td5.

Weather Journal appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.