High Surf — Redwood Coast, California

2011-01-21 to 2011-01-23 · Redwood Coast, California

Event narrative

At 9:30 a.m. on January 21, two woman were knocked into the ocean by a sneaker wave. One woman made it back to safety but the other woman died.

Wider weather episode

Long period waves from a distant storm produced a wave climate on the beaches of Northern California that had a very strong set behavior, though the overall wave height was well below advisory criteria. This set behavior leads to periods when the waves are relatively small and then periods of much higher waves occur without warning.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 281573. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.