A series of large, long-period northwest swells, generated by storms moving over the north-central Pacific brought high surf and strong rip currents to portions of the Orange and San Diego County coast during the week of January 20th. This period covers the first of the swells to move through the coastal waters on the 20th-22nd.
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.
The episode as NWS SGX wrote it up.
A series of large, long-period northwest swells, generated by storms moving over the north-central Pacific brought high surf and strong rip currents to portions of the Orange and San Diego County coast during the week of January 20th. This period covers the first of the swells to move through the coastal waters on the 20th-22nd. Areas north of Newport Beach in Orange County and south of Del Mar in San Diego County saw widespread 5 to 8 foot surf with sets to 10 feet. Numerous surf rescues by lifeguards and moderate beach erosion was reported near Pacific Beach in San Diego County.
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 Diego, CA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 19, 8:25 PM PST, 3 hours 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN DIEGO CA
825 PM PST SUN JAN 19 2014
.SYNOPSIS...
THE RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL REMAIN IN PLACE ALONG THE WEST
COAST...KEEPING THE WARM AND DRY WEATHER ACROSS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
THROUGH WEDNESDAY. AFTER WEDNESDAY...A LOW PRESSURE TROUGH WILL DROP
SOUTH OVER NEVADA...AND CUT WESTWARD ACROSS CENTRAL CALIFORNIA. THE
LOW WILL ALLOW ONSHORE FLOW TO DEVELOP FOR COOLER DAYS AND HIGHER
HUMIDITY. A SHALLOW MARINE LAYER MAY RESULT IN AREAS OF LOW CLOUDS
AND FOG WEST OF THE MOUNTAINS NIGHTS AND MORNINGS. OTHERWISE...FAIR
WEATHER WILL PREVAIL WITH NO SIGNIFICANT PRECIPITATION EXPECTED FOR
THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEK.
&&
.DISCUSSION...FOR EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA INCLUDING ORANGE...
SAN DIEGO...WESTERN RIVERSIDE AND SOUTHWESTERN SAN BERNARDINO
COUNTIES...
IT WAS COOLER AGAIN TODAY AS THE OFFSHORE SURFACE PRESSURE GRADIENTS
WEAKENED. WINDS WERE LIGHT AND SIGNIFICANT HIGH CLOUD COVER WAS
PRESENT. EXCEPT FOR A COUPLE OF SITES AT THE COAST...SURFACE
DEWPOINTS REMAINED LOW...ALONG WITH RELATIVE HUMIDITY.
A WEAK SHORT-WAVE TROUGH WAS GUIDING PATCHY HIGH CLOUDS OVER SOCAL
TODAY AND CONTINUES THIS EVENING. THE CLOUDS APPEAR TO BE THINNING
THROUGH 04Z AND MAY REMAIN FAIRLY THIN AND SCATTERED ON MON. ANOTHER
SURGE OF HIGH CLOUDS MAY SLIDE INTO THE REGION ON TUE AS ANOTHER
WEAK SHORT-WAVE IS STEERED NE AROUND A WEAK UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH
PARKED OVER THE EASTPAC ABOUT 1200 MILES SW OF SAN DIEGO. SUNRISES
AND SUNSETS MAY BE ENHANCED WITH THESE CLOUDS...BUT THE MOISTURE
WILL NOT BE SUBSTANTIAL ENOUGH FOR PRECIPITATION.
ALTHOUGH WEAKER...THE RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE HELD OVER THE WEST
COAST THIS WEEKEND KEEPING SKIES FAIR AND TEMPERATURES ABOVE
AVERAGE. THE HIGH WILL STRENGTHEN AGAIN MON/TUE...THEN THE AXIS WILL
BE SHIFTED SLIGHTLY WESTWARD AS A SHORTWAVE TROUGH TOPS THE RIDGE ON
TUE NIGHT...AND SLIDES SOUTH INTO AZ THROUGH THU. THE GLOBAL MODELS
HANDLE THE WAVE SIMILARLY THROUGH THU...THEN DIVERGE WITH NUMEROUS
SOLUTIONS RANGING FROM A CLOSED LOW OFF THE CENTRAL COAST...TO WEAK
WAVES BEING REABSORBED INTO FLOW BOTH WEST OF...AND BENEATH THE
RIDGE. THE NET RESULT HERE IS EXPECTED TO BE A RETURN OF WEAK
ONSHORE FLOW...COOLING...AND PERIODS OF BOTH HIGH AND MORE
LIMITED...LOWER MARINE CLOUDS/FOG FOR THE LATTER HALF OF THE WEEK.
THE 12Z OPERATIONAL RUN OF THE ECMWF MODEL...AND TO A LESSER
EXTENT...THE ECENS MEAN INDICATE SIGNIFICANT UNDERCUTTING OF THE
RIDGE NEXT WEEK AS THE ANOMALOUS HIGH CENTER SHIFTS NORTH OF THE
ARCTIC CIRCLE...HOWEVER THE CANADIAN AND GFS MODELS MAINTAIN STRONG
LOW LATITUDE RIDGING WITH THE MAIN BAND OF WESTERLIES MUCH FARTHER
TO THE NORTH. THE FORECAST THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD REMAINS DRY
UNTIL WE SEE MORE OF A DEFINITIVE SHIFT IN THE RIDGING PATTERN
BETWEEN THE VARIOUS MODELS AND RUN TO RUN.
&&
.AVIATION...
200345Z...PATCHY LOW CLOUDS AND FOG DEVELOPING OVER THE COASTAL
WATERS COULD APPROACH THE COAST TONIGHT WITH CLOUD BASES BLO 500 FT
MSL AND VIS BLO 3SM. HOWEVER...CONFIDENCE TOO LOW TO INCLUDE ANY LOW
CIGS/VIS IN COASTAL TAF SITES. OTHERWISE...SCT-BKN CLOUDS AOA 20000
FT AND UNRESTRICTED VIS THROUGH MON EVENING.
&&
.MARINE...
THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF LARGE LONG-PERIOD WNW SWELLS IS MOVING INTO
THE COASTAL WATERS AND IS FORECAST TO PEAK MONDAY MORNING AT 8 FT/15
SEC. HOWEVER...CURRENT OBS SHOW WAVE WATCH III FCST IS RUNNING ABOUT
2-3 FT TOO HIGH AT SAN CLEMENTE BASIN BUOY. THIS COULD PARTIALLY BE
DUE TO TIMING ISSUES...THOUGH THE SWELL PERIOD IS ALREADY DOWN
TO 15 SEC AS WELL. EXPECT SURF OF AROUND 4-7 FT WITH OCCASIONAL
HIGHER SETS IN SOUTH SAN DIEGO COUNTY AND HUNTINGTON BEACH MONDAY. A
SECOND LARGER SWELL WILL ARRIVE LATE MONDAY AND PEAK TUESDAY
AFTERNOON AT 9 FEET/18 SEC. SURF OF 5 TO 8 FT WITH INFREQUENT SETS
OF 9-10 FEET ARE POSSIBLE TUE AFTERNOON...MAINLY IN SOUTH SAN DIEGO
COUNTY. THE HIGH SURF WILL BE ACCOMPANIED BY STRONG RIP CURRENTS
THROUGH EARLY WED. SWELLS WILL LOWER SLIGHTLY FOR WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON INTO THURSDAY. HIGHEST SURF OF THE WEEK EXPECTED FRI AND
SAT AS A LARGER WNW SWELL MOVES IN. THIS SWELL IS EXPECTED TO PEAK
OVERNIGHT FRIDAY AT 9-10 FEET/19 SECONDS.
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...
SEASONALLY WARM AND VERY DRY CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL ACROSS THE
INLAND AREAS THROUGH WEDNESDAY...WITH AFTERNOON RH IN THE SINGLE
DIGITS AND LOCALLY GUSTY NORTHEAST TO EAST WINDS UP TO 25 MPH NEAR
THE COASTAL FOOTHILLS AT TIMES. MEANWHILE...A SHALLOW MARINE LAYER
WILL BRING MINOR COOLING AND HIGHER RH NEAR THE COAST THROUGH EARLY
TUESDAY. A WEAK TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE WILL INCREASE THE ONSHORE
FLOW BY MIDWEEK...WITH COOLING AND HIGHER RH EXTENDING FARTHER
INLAND.
&&
SKYWARN ACTIVATION IS NOT REQUESTED. HOWEVER WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE
ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS.
&&
.SGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
CA...HIGH SURF ADVISORY FROM 5 AM MONDAY TO NOON PST WEDNESDAY FOR
THE BEACHES IN THE ORANGE COUNTY COASTAL AREAS...SAN DIEGO
COUNTY COASTAL AREAS.
PZ...NONE.
&&
PUBLIC/FIRE...JAD
AVIATION/MARINE...SS1 high surf. Local standard time, as filed.
Huntington Beach consistently reported 8 to 10 foot surf with powerful rip currents and several surf/rip rescues. Newport Beach reported surf of 6 to 8 feet.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in California in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in California, January 2014
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: 494888.