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

2024-12-23 to 2024-12-30 · Southern Monterey Bay and Big Sur Coast, California

Event narrative

The Monterey County Sheriff's Office responded to a call around 2:14 PM on December 23 that a man visiting from Asia had been swept out to sea near Point Joe in Del Monte Forest. A witness said that the man was knocked into the water while standing on a rock. The search turned into a rescue mission after 45 minutes, and searches continued into Tuesday.

Wider weather episode

Long duration high surf caused damage across Monterey Bay and resulted in numerous attempted water rescues on December 23. Around 1244 PST, around 150 feet of the Santa Cruz wharf collapsed and fell into Monterey Bay. Prior to 1300 PST, wave heights at buoy 46284 were building to around 18.7 feet with a dominant period of around 22 seconds. True wave direction was likely more westerly, but due to the location of the buoy, the wave direction read largely southwest.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1223060. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.