Name: Flooding in California, December 17, 2002
Start: 2002-12-17T09:45
End: 2002-12-17T10:00
Location: California

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

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 LOX wrote it up.

The combination of large westerly swell and high astronomical tides produced coastal flooding along the coasts of Ventura and southern Santa Barbara counties. In Santa Barbara, a parking lot at Rincon Beach was flooded. In Ventura county, several boulders from the surfline littered driving areas along Oxnard Beach.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Los Angeles, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 17, 2:39 AM PST, 7 hours 6 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 17, 2:39 AM PST, 7 hours 6 minutes before

SOUTHWEST CALIFORNIA AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
230 AM PST WED DEC 18 2002

MID CHANNEL BOUY JUMPED TO 16 FEET WITH A 17 SECOND PERIOD. THIS
HIGH WEST SWELL COMBINED WITH A 730ISH HIGH TIDE WILL PRODUCE
CONDITIONS FAVORABLE FOR COASTAL FLOODING. HAVE ISSUED A COASTAL FLOOD
WARNING TO COVER THIS HAZARD.

GOOD CLEARING HAS STARTED TO MOVE INTO THE CENTRAL COAST IN THE WAKE
OF MONDAYS COLD FRONT. A FEW SHOWERS REMAIN BUT THINK ACTIVITY WILL
CONTINUE TO SUBSIDE AS THE NIGHT MOVES ON. TODAY SHOULD BE PARTLY
CLOUDY WITH SOME SCATTERED SHOWERS CAUSED BY THE SUN AND THE GENERALLY
UNSTABLE AIRMASS. SMALL RIDGE POPS UP LATER TONIGHT WHICH SHOULD KEEP
THINGS DRY INTO WEDNESDAY EXCEPT FOR THE CENTRAL COAST WHICH MAY BE
VULNERABLE TO A FEW MORE SHOWERS AS THE RESULT OF WEAK SHORT WAYVES
ROTATING INTO THE AREA.

UNFORTUNATLY CANNOT SAY WITH ANY GREAT CONFIDENCE WHAT IT GOING TO
HAPPEN IN THE EXTENDED. GFS SOLUTION SEEMS VERY STRONG AND IT DOES NOT
AGREE WELL WITH EC/UK/OR CAN MDLS. AM GOING TO PUNT AND NOT CHANGE
EXTENDED MUCH EXCEPT TO INTRODUCE POPS INTO MONDAYS DRY PERIOD AS GFS
DOES SAY IT WILL RAIN AND WHILE I DO NOT BELIVE EXACTLY WHAT THE GFS
SAYS I THINK WE ARE IN A WET PERIOD AND CHANCE WORDING IS WARRENTED.

SWELLS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH AT LEAST WEDNESDAY.

LAX 500. RORKE.

.LOX...COASTAL FLOOD WARNING (SEE LAXC
       SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY (SEE LAXCWFLOX).
       HIGH SURF ADVISORY (SEE LAXMWSLOX).

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 17, 6:36 AM PST, 3 hours 9 minutes before

CAZ034>041-044>047-051>054-059-087-088-180200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
600 AM PST TUE DEC 17 2002

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA.

.DAY ONE...

SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE OVER SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA TODAY AND LAST INTO THE EVENING. THE SNOW LEVEL WILL FALL
TO NEAR 5000 FEET ALTHOUGH LITTLE SNOW ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED.
VERY HIGH SWELL CONTINUE IN THE SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
WATERS THESE SWELLS ARE GENERATING VERY HIGH SURF AND AT HIGH TIDE
THIS MORNING MAY WELL CAUSE COASTAL FLOODING.

* COASTAL FLOOD WARNING......SEE WHUS46 KLOX - CFWLOX FOR DETAILS *

* HIGH SURF ADVISORY.........SEE FZUS76 KLOX - MWSLOX FOR DETAILS *

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

HIGH SURF AND SWELL WILL PERSIST INTO THE WEEK. A NEW STORM...
POSSIBLY STRONGER THAN MONDAYS STORM WILL ARRIVE LATE THURSDAY AND
COULD LAST WELL INTO FRIDAY. WET WEATHER IS FORECAST TO REMAIN OVER
THE SOUTHLAND INTO NEXT WEEK.

* HIGH SURF ADVISORY.........SEE FZUS76 KLOX - MWSLOX FOR DETAILS *

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.

RORKE

Event by event

2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, X S Ventura

When: December 17, 9:45 AM PST
Where: X S Ventura forecast zone
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA

Flood, X S Santa Barbara

When: December 17, 10:00 AM PST
Where: X S Santa Barbara forecast zone
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in California in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in California, December 2002

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: 5321456, 5321455.