Coastal sea elevations measured at tide gages in the northern North Pacific when adjusted for the atmospheric pressure show a seasonal high in winter (November--February). This high is well out of phase with the midocean response of geopotential anomaly (steric height) to the heating and cooling cycle, which produces highest steric elevations in July--October. We attempt to show that steric height near the coast varies seasonally in phase with the measurements at the tide gages and that the high elevations in winter are a consequence of the circulation of the subarctic cyclonic gyre of the North Pacific Ocean. The flow of the coastal limb of this gyre (along the eastern, northern, and western boundary of the ocean) is intensified in winter, and in geostropic balance the sea surface slopes upward toward the coast, accounting for the winter rise. Sea elevation along the eastern boundary as determined from steric height does not slope uniformly downward from the equator toward higher latitudes but has several maxima and minima. These appear to be the consequence of the sea surface slopes associated with the quasigeostrophically balanced system of cyclonic and anticyclonic gyres in middle and high latitudes and zonal flows near the equator.