High Surf, Redwood Coast
- When
- December 9, 11:00 AM PST
- Where
- Redwood Coast forecast zone
- Deaths
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
High Surf in California, December 9, 1996
A surfer was swept out by heavy surf and slmmed into a cliff at Moonstone Beach near Trinidad.
The toll
- Deaths
- 1
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS EKA wrote it up.
A surfer was swept out by heavy surf and slmmed into a cliff at Moonstone Beach near Trinidad.
Event by event
1 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.
The people who died
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High Surf, Redwood Coast | 1996-12-09 | 23 | Male | In Water | Direct |
What these are
- High Surf
- Large waves breaking on the shore that caused damage, erosion or casualties.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- High Wind in California, December 9, 1996
- Winter Storm in California, December 9 to 11, 1996
- High Wind in Alaska, December 9 to 14, 1996
- Heavy Snow in Utah, December 9 to 11, 1996
- High Wind in Oregon, December 9 to 10, 1996
- High Wind in California, December 9, 1996
- High Wind in California, December 9, 1996
- High Wind in California, December 9, 1996
- Heavy Snow in California, December 9, 1996
- Heavy Snow in California, December 9 to 10, 1996
- High Wind in Nevada, December 9, 1996
- High Wind in Nevada, December 9, 1996
More
Every storm in California in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyWarnings in California, December 1996
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5582723.