High Surf — Northern Monterey Bay, California

2024-12-23 · Northern Monterey Bay, California

Event narrative

California State Parks was called out on 11:30 AM on December 23 because of a 64-year old man stuck under debris on Sunset State Beach. Emergency responders pulled the man out, who later died of his injuries. It is believed that high surf caused a large wave that trapped the man under debris.

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 1223061. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.