Name: High Surf in California, July 14, 2010
Start: 2010-07-14T11:45
End: 2010-07-14T12:00
Location: California

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

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Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
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Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
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The toll

Deaths: 4
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $20,000
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 MTR wrote it up.

Low pressure over the Pacific Ocean caused a six to eight foot swell to travel into the coastal waters of California. Breaking waves occurred near the shore causing hazardous surf in some locations, including the waters north of Point Reyes.

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 San Francisco Bay Area, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 14, 10:01 AM PST, 1 hour 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 14, 10:01 AM PST, 1 hour 44 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA CA
1101 AM PDT WED JUL 14 2010

.DISCUSSION...AS OF 8:00 AM PDT WEDNESDAY...EARLY MORNING VISUAL
IMAGES SHOWING LESS STRATUS THAN YESTERDAY.  THE GRADIENTS ARE WEAK
AND THE MARINE LAYER HAS DECREASED BY A THOUSAND FEET IN THE LAST
24 HOURS...NOW AT AROUND 1500 FEET.  FOR TODAY EXPECT THE UPPER LOW
WEST OF CALIFORNIA TO CONTINUE TO SHIFT WESTWARD WHILE HIGHER
PRESSURE BUILDS OVER THE STATE FROM THE EAST.  ALL OF THIS SHOULD
MEAN SLIGHTLY WARMER TEMPERATURES FOR COASTAL LOCATIONS TODAY AND
MAYBE A GOOD 3-6 DEGREES WARMER FOR THE INLAND LOCATIONS. MODELS ARE
IN GOOD AGREEMENT FOR THE TREND THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS TO BE FOR
WARMING INTERIOR SECTIONS AS HIGHER PRESSURE CONTINUES TO BUILD OVER
CALIFORNIA. LOW CLOUDS WILL BE LIMITED TO THE IMMEDIATE COAST AND
COASTAL VALLEYS NIGHTS AND MORNINGS THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK. IN
AGREEMENT WITH THE PREVIOUS DISCUSSION EXPECT BY END OF THE WEEK FOR
INTERIOR LOCATIONS TO BE IN THE 90S WITH A FEW 100 TO 105 READINGS
WARMEST LOCATIONS LIKE SOUTHERN MONTEREY COUNTY.

NO UPDATES NEEDED TO THE PREVIOUS EXTENDED DISCUSSION...THE WEEKEND
SHOULD BE WARM AS BOTH THE 00Z EURO AND GFS KEEP HEIGHTS ABOVE 594 DM
THROUGH SAT AND 850 TEMPS NEAR 27 TO 28C. ALTHOUGH IT WILL SEEM
FAIRLY WARM AS WE HAVE NOT HAD MUCH HEAT SO FAR THIS SUMMER...IT WILL
NOT BE WARMER THAN A TYPICAL MID-JULY.  BY MONDAY A TROUGH MOVES IN
FROM THE PACNW LOWERING HEIGHTS AND DEEPENING THE MARINE LAYER.  THIS
COOLING TREND INCREASES INTO THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. BY WEDNESDAY
EXPECT LOW CLOUDS TO BE MOVING INLAND NIGHTS AND MORNINGS AND INLAND
TEMPS TO FALL MOST LIKELY BELOW NORMAL FOR MID JULY.

&&

.AVIATION...AS OF 11:01 AM PDT WEDNESDAY...THE LATEST VISIBLE
SATELLITE IMAGE IS SHOWING CLEAR SKIES ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA.
STRATUS IS ALSO ERODING QUICKLY FROM THE COAST AND WILL HAVE A
DIFFICULT TIME REESTABLISHING ITSELF TONIGHT AS HIGH PRESSURE
BUILDS AND MID LEVEL OFFSHORE FLOW DEVELOPS.

VICINITY OF KSFO...VFR IS EXPECTED TODAY WITH A SHALLOW STRATUS
LAYER POSSIBLE AROUND 1000Z. DIURNAL WINDS ARE EXPECTED TODAY WITH
THE SEA BREEZE REACHING 17 KT AND GUSTING TO 25 KT BY 2200Z.

KSFO BRIDGE APPROACH...SAME AS KSFO.

MRY BAY AREA TERMINALS...VFR IS EXPECTED TODAY WITH A SHALLOW STRATUS
LAYER POSSIBLE AROUND 0800Z. DIURNAL WINDS ARE EXPECTED TODAY WITH
THE SEA BREEZE REACHING 10 TO 15 KT BY 2000Z.

&&

.MTR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
     .TDY....SCA...SF BAY AFTER 12 PM.

&&

PUBLIC FORECAST: WJK
AVIATION/MARINE: LARRY

NWS ON THE WEB AT WEATHER.GOV/SANFRANCISCO

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.

High Surf, Coastal North Bay Including Point Reyes National Seashore

When: July 14, 11:45 AM PST to 12:00 PM PST
Where: Coastal North Bay Including Point Reyes National Seashore forecast zone
Deaths: 4 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: Coast Guard
Coordinates: 38.290, -122.835 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A 24-foot motorized fishing boat capsized in the six to eight foot surf about one mile offshore of Ten Mile Beach, also known as The Great Beach, north of Point Reyes. The four fishermen aboard lost their lives as they were thrown into the frigid water. None of them were wearing life vests. Also, the boat was totally destroyed with parts of the boat washing up along more than one mile of shoreline.

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	Sex	Where	Kind
High Surf, Coastal North Bay Including Point Reyes National Seashore	2010-07-14	Male	Boating	Direct
High Surf, Coastal North Bay Including Point Reyes National Seashore	2010-07-14	Male	Boating	Direct
High Surf, Coastal North Bay Including Point Reyes National Seashore	2010-07-14	Male	Boating	Direct
High Surf, Coastal North Bay Including Point Reyes National Seashore	2010-07-14	Male	Boating	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

More

Every storm in California in 2010 Every state in 2010 This day in weather history Warnings in California, July 2010

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: 254053.