Biggest Waves in a Decade Slam California Coast: Sets Reach 50 to 60 Feet at Mavericks, About 270 Santa Cruz County Homes Under Evacuation Warnings
The National Weather Service said the biggest waves in about a decade battered the California coast on Saturday, November 14, closing beaches and piers from the Oregon border to Los Angeles County, sending sets of 50 to 60 feet into the Mavericks break off Half Moon Bay, and prompting evacuation warnings for about 270 homes in Santa Cruz County.
The Bay Area office's High Surf Warning was borne out on Saturday: breaking waves of 25 to 35 feet hit much of the coast, and a buoy off Point Reyes measured a significant wave height of 31.2 feet on Saturday morning, the second highest in roughly three decades of records for that buoy, topped only during the December 2015 El Nino winter. The weather service said surf of this size can sweep people off beaches, jetties and rocks, and that the risk of drowning was very high.
In Pacifica, just south of San Francisco, waves repeatedly broke over the seawall and pushed water hundreds of feet inland; floodwater nearly a foot deep covered part of Highway 1, and residents filled sandbags to protect their homes. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office and Capitola police issued evacuation warnings for low-lying areas including Capitola Village, the Las Olas and Beach Drive neighborhoods of Rio Del Mar, Platform Beach, Potbelly Beach and New Brighton State Beach, urging residents to consider leaving early; no evacuation orders had been issued as of midday Saturday. The City of Santa Cruz closed all city beaches and the Santa Cruz Wharf from Friday night, and crews built sand berms and barriers along the shore.
In Southern California, surf in Los Angeles County was forecast at 6 to 9 feet, building to 8 to 12 feet, with a high surf advisory in effect through Tuesday afternoon; the Manhattan Beach Pier has closed because of the large surf, as GSM has reported. Forecasters expected the next large swell to arrive late Sunday into Monday, with dangerous seas continuing into the coming week.
(Source: National Weather Service)
Source: National Weather Service
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Half Moon Bay 外海 Mavericks 浪点的巨浪资料图。照片：Shalom Jacobovitz 摄、Brocken Inaglory 修订，CC BY-SA 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: File photo of a giant wave at Mavericks, off Half Moon Bay. Photo by Shalom Jacobovitz, derivative by Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
