High Surf — Southern Monterey Bay and Big Sur Coast, California

2023-03-22 to 2023-03-25 · Southern Monterey Bay and Big Sur Coast, California

Event narrative

At 7:47 PM on the 22nd, a person reported a 3-year old boy unaccompanied at Moss Landing State Beach. The Coast Guard states that the boy said his mother went swimming and his 7-year old brother was missing. Cal Fire retrieved the mother from near Moss Landing Harbor; on Thursday, Monterey County Sheriff's Office reported she was dead in the water. The Coast Guard, Monterey County Sheriff's Office, and North County Fire started to search for the 7-year old boy; the search was suspended at 2 AM Thursday and resumed Thursday morning. On Saturday, the Monterey County Sheriff's Department confirmed that the 7-year old boy was found dead in the water; a dive team found the missing child about 10 feet below the surface of the lagoon at 11:20 AM.

Wider weather episode

A mother and her son from the Salinas area drowned at the Moss Landing State Beach on March 23. At the time of the incident, the Monterey offshore buoy reported 12.1 ft waves at an average period of 8.7 seconds, and a Small Craft Advisory was in effect for Monterey Bay. Dive teams noted that recent rainstorms and associated rainfall made for poor diving conditions and visibility.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1085006. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.