Large surf driven by hurricane force winds will slam already battered beaches along the California coast this weekend, with select big-wave surf spots like Mavericks Beach expected to see waves as tall as 50 feet.
“I don’t see 25 to 35 feet waves crashing along the coast very often” said Roger Gass, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Monterey.
The agency issued its first high-surf warning since December 2024 for the entire coastline from Mexico to Oregon until Sunday, along with coastal flood advisories from San Diego through San Francisco.
Fortunately, the North Pacific swell is not coinciding with the type of peak high tides that led to flooding in October and are expected to be even higher toward the end of the month.
The pulses of warm water known as a Kelvin wave, a major effect of El Niño, have expanded the ocean along the West Coast, at times lifting the tides by more than a foot and raising fears of catastrophic flooding in coming months, as winter storms roll off the Pacific.
The waves on Saturday did not dissuade surfers in Southern California, where the wind was mild, from Black’s Beach in San Diego to Rincon in Ventura County. In the north, top big-wave riders were flying in to push the limits of the sport at Mavericks, just north of Half Moon Bay, which had a morning window for tow-in surfing before wind churned the surface up.
“This is our first weekend of the season” said Caitlyn Sinclair of Mavericks Surf Company. “Everyone is pretty excited.”
Saturday morning jet skies were towing surfers into the oceanic behemoths in wild and woolly conditions.
“Everyone’s coming” said Frank Quirarte, who runs a group of volunteers that rescues surfers from massive waves using Jet Skis. Quirarte and Sinclair said surfers are coming in from Florida, Europe and Hawaii, and they expect folks want get out there to watch.
Two didn’t make it because of the nationwide ground stop of all flights Friday. Top big-wave riders Justine Dupont and Lucas Chumbo told their followers on Instagram that were on their way to Mavericks. “Would have love to share waves with you but I’m locked in the Boston Airport,” Dupont wrote.
The National Weather Service warned that waves may impact coastal structures like piers, particularly those along the central coast. It also warned that the large waves could easily pull people off of beaches, jetties and rocks without warning.
The unsafe conditions prompted the city of Santa Cruz to close all of it’s beaches and it’s wharf, and the state to close beaches around the Monterey Peninsula.
“The surfers are super excited about these waves,” Gass said. “But the general public, we recommend folks to stay well away from the coast.”
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