30-foot waves and widespread rain: West Coast braces for more storms
Rain, coastal flooding and waves up to 30 feet high were expected along parts of the West Coast on Friday, a day after giant waves lashed California’s coastline and prompted some evacuation warnings.
More than six million people in coastal areas of California and Oregon faced high fire warnings overnight as breaking waves posed a “particularly heightened threat to life and property,” the National Weather Service said.
“Dangerously large” waves of about 8 to 10 meters high and potentially as high as 12 meters were forecast overnight at some coastal spots in the San Francisco Bay Area and for some parts of Central California, where a few communities in Santa Cruz County received evacuation warnings a day before.
A high surf warning for the Bay Area and the Central Coast expired at 3 a.m. local time. But a high surf advisory was on the agenda, indicating a lower level of risk, along with a coastal flooding advisory will take a few more hours.
In addition, a high wave warning would remain in force until Saturday for more than four million people along the coasts of Oregon and California. The Weather Service office in Medford, Oregon, said it expected infrastructure damage and beach erosion breaking waves up to 30 meters high.
In Southern California, forecasters predicted waves of up to 25 feet, and said the threat of significant coastal flooding would continue through Saturday night. For beaches in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, northwest of Los Angeles, high warnings for surf and coastal flooding were in effect until 10 p.m. Saturday. (A coastal flood warning is much higher than an advisory and indicates an immediate or probable threat to life and property.)
The Weather Service office in Los Angeles told surfers and beachgoers that the risk of drowning was high, and California’s state parks system warned outdoor enthusiasts should exercise caution near the ocean. That included more than a dozen state parks and beaches in California completely or partially closed due to bad weather.
The large waves were part of a storm system that approached the west coast early Friday. The Weather Service said in a prediction that moderate rainfall, turning heavy in some places, was likely to affect much of California later in the day. A few feet of snow was also possible in the Sierra Nevada on Saturday night.
Some coastal areas of California, Oregon and Washington state were also under gale warnings until late Friday evening, meaning wind gusts of 39 to 54 miles per hour were imminent or already developing.
Evidence suggests the United States can expect more unusual and violent storms as the planet warms, possibly striking in new places or at unexpected times of the year.
This past winter brought some of the most ferocious weather California had seen in decades, including many atmospheric rivers — narrow conveyor belts of water vapor in the air — dumping wave after wave of precipitation onto the already soaked ground.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in October that it expected conditions to be wetter than average across much of California this winter, partly because of the El Niño weather phenomenon.